Poppel

Personal: Male.

German expert in guided missile ground support during World War II. A member of von Braun's rocket team, he came to the United States in 1946 and continued in this role in the United States. He headed the Saturn Launch Support Equipment Office, with design responsibilities for vehicle-associated support equipment. He played a key role in conceiving and designing Launch Complex 34 for the Saturn I booster and the Vertical Assembly Building and Transporter-Crawler at LC 39 for the Saturn V. His group remained at Huntsville in order to coordinate the work of designing and launching the vehicles, but reported to Kurt Debus at Cape Canaveral.