Rudolf F. Hoelker, 91; Developed Rockets and U.S. Space Program

Rudolf F. Hoelker, a space science pioneer and member of Wernher von Braun’s German rocket team, died June 14 at a Massachusetts hospital. He was 91.

Hoelker was born in Halle, Germany, and worked with Von Braun in Germany during World War II. After the war, he moved to Huntsville, Ala., with the rocket team and helped to build the U.S. aerospace program in the early days of the space race.

He contributed to all missile developments up to the first flight to the moon and published nearly 100 scientific papers.

Hoelker moved to Massachusetts in 1965 to be senior scientist at NASA’s Electronics Center in Cambridge. He retired from the government in 1973.