1959-11-04 USA Project Saturn Transfer to NASA

Transfer of Project Saturn from Army to NASA on November 2, 1959. Cover signed by Wernher von Braun.

"President Eisenhower approved the transfer of the Development Operations Division of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency to NASA on November 2, 1959. This meant that by mid-1960, Wernher von Braun and his rocket team would be part of NASA. In the interim, NASA assumed management responsibility for the Saturn launch vehicle through a working agreement with the Army. An immediate step was to form a “Saturn Vehicle Team” to advise NASA on the direction the Saturn program should take, particularly with respect to the vehicle’s upper stages. The team was led by NASA Headquarters official Abe Silverstein, who was an advocate of the use of powerful but difficult-to-handle liquid hydrogen as a fuel for rocket engines. During the deliberations that led to this report, Silverstein was able to convince an initially skeptical von Braun that the upper stages of the Saturn vehicle should use engines employing liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. This decision set the stage for the creation of the S-II and S-IVB stages used in the Saturn V Moon rocket..."
(Reference from Document title: Saturn Vehicle Team, “Report to the Administrator, NASA, on Saturn Development Plan,” December 15, 1959, pp. 1–4, 7–9)

Photo: Dr. Wernher Von Braun at ceremonies transferring the Saturn barge to the Civilian Space Agency, December 13, 1960.