Jesco von Puttkamer

Jesco Hans Heinrich Max Freiherr von Puttkamer ( 22 de septiembre de 1933 - 27 de diciembre de 2012 ) fue un ingeniero aeroespacial germano-estadounidense , alto directivo de la NASA y escritor de ciencia ficción popular . 

Fue defensor de la exploración espacial humana y de la búsqueda de inteligencia extraterrestre ( SETI ). ^{[ 1 ]} Durante su estancia en la NASA, se desempeñó como director del programa a cargo de la planificación a largo plazo de las actividades tripuladas en el espacio profundo (vuelos más allá de la órbita terrestre). Era considerado un experto en el programa espacial ruso . ^{[ 2 ]}

Puttkamer colaboró ​​en las operaciones diarias en órbita de la NASA desde 2009 hasta 2012.

DeForest Kelley le puso el apodo de Jessie , mientras que Puttkammer lo llamaba Dee . ^{[ 3 ] : xxiv}

Murió de una enfermedad repentina parecida a la gripe el 27 de diciembre de 2012. ^{[ 1 ]}

Nació en Leipzig , en el seno de la noble familia alemana Puttkamer , con el título de barón ( Freiherr ). Según la tradición familiar, a cada primogénito varón de los Puttkamer se le da el nombre de Jesco. ^{[ 4 ]}

Puttkamer terminó la escuela secundaria en Konstanz y estudió ingeniería mecánica en la Technische Hochschule ( Universidad RWTH Aachen ) en Aquisgrán .

En 1962, Puttkamer dejó Alemania Occidental para ir a Estados Unidos, donde fue reclutado por el equipo de cohetes de Wernher von Braun en el Centro de Vuelos Espaciales Marshall de la NASA en Huntsville, Alabama . ^{[ 5 ]} Fue ingeniero sénior en el programa Apolo . ^{[ 6 ]} Su supervisor en Marshall fue Ernst Geissler . ^{[ 7 ]}

Se le concedió la ciudadanía estadounidense en 1967.

Puttkammer fue consultor y asesor técnico de Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), contribuyendo con la teoría hipotética detrás del motor de curvatura espacial más rápido que la luz y el efecto de agujero de gusano que aparece en la película. ^{[ 8 ]}

From 1985 to 2000, he lectured at FH Aachen as an Honorary Professor. In 1995, Puttkamer was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Philosophy by Saarland University for his pioneering contributions to the understanding of space flight. He was a frequent consultant to President George W. Bush during the implementation of the president's Vision for Space Exploration.

Puttkamer said that among his most treasured achievements at NASA were: his contributions to the Apollo program; the lunar landing in 1969, which fulfilled President John F. Kennedy's mandate; and recovering America's experimental space station Skylab after its disastrous launch into orbit on 14 May 1973. He often spoke of "rescuing" the backup Skylab from being scrapped, so it could be publicly displayed in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

An interview of Puttkamer by Jörg Weigand was published in Perry Rhodan, Issue 2302.^[9] He was a guest on ZDF's Nachtstudio in 2009. The episode, hosted by Volker Panzer, titled "Moonstruck", was a retrospective on German contributions to space exploration, and focused heavily on the Apollo Moon landing.^[10]

Puttkamer was the author of more than a dozen books on space flight. He also wrote many science fictionshort stories which were published by West German pulp magazines, notably Pabel's Utopia Sonderband (with volume #3 renamed to Utopia SF Magazin) (1956–57) and Moewig's Terra and Terra Astra (1960–61). His stories have been reprinted frequently since. He also published several serialized essays from 1964 to 1969 for a number of West German magazines.^[11]

His stories, originally published in Utopia SF Magazin, were collected in Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985) along with six new stories. The collection was released as part of the Utopia Classics series. The story "The Sleeping God" was collected in the anthologyStar Trek: The New Voyages 2, along with an introduction by Puttkamer where he explains science fiction, like Star Trek, humanizes space, making it "more understandable for the young in mind."^[3]:xxvi

His German-language memoir and essay of the Apollo 11 lunar landing, "Apollo 11: Ausflug in die Mondwelt," was reissued in a Chinese translation in 1982, in Beijing. A revised edition of the essay was included in his book, Abenteuer Apollo 11, released on the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.^[2]

• Puttkamer was awarded with numerous accolades while at NASA, among them the Exceptional Service Medal (2004), for outstanding services by a civilian, followed by the NASA Honor Award, for advancing American-Russian cooperation in space flight, in 2007.^[2]
• In December 2008, Puttkamer was honored with the "Distinguished German-American of the Year" award by the German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA (GAHF).^[12]
• Asteroid 266725 Vonputtkamer, discovered by Matthias Busch and Rainer Kresken at the ESA Optical Ground Station in 2009, was named in his honor.^[13] The official naming citation was published by the Minor Planet Center on 12 October 2011 (M.P.C. 76677).^[14]

The following bibliography is incomplete:

• NASA
• Visión para la exploración espacial
• Fundación del Patrimonio Germano-Estadounidense de los Estados Unidos

• Jesco von Puttkamer en la base de datos de ficción especulativa de Internet
• Página de inicio des Verbandes des Geschlechtes v.Puttkamer (en alemán)