Jesco von Puttkamer

He was born, in Leipzig, to the German noble Puttkamer family with the titular rank of baron ({{Lang|de|Freiherr}}). According to family tradition, each firstborn Puttkamer son is given the forename Jesco.Jesco von Puttkamer: Nasa engineer who worked with Wernher von Braun. (2103, January 2). In The Independent. [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/jesco-von-puttkamer-nasa-engineer-who-worked-wernher-von-braun-8434719.html]

Puttkamer finished high school in Konstanz, and studied mechanical engineering at the Technische Hochschule (RWTH Aachen University) in Aachen.

In 1962, Puttkamer left Germany for the United States, where he was recruited into Wernher von Braun's rocket team at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.[https://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/von_puttkamer_obit.html] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033106/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/von_puttkamer_obit.html |date=2020-11-12 }} NASA - Jesco von Puttkamer: 1933-2012 He was a senior engineer on the Apollo program.{{Cite web|url=http://canoe.com/category/news/cnews/world/2009/07/11/10102621-sun.html|title=World prepares for 40th anniversary of Apollo 11|last=Harris|first=Kathleen|date=2009-07-11|website=Canadian Online Explorer|access-date=2010-12-25}}{{dead link|date=February 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} His supervisor at Marshall was Ernst Geissler.{{Cite book|title=Der zweite Tag der neuen Welt: d. Raumfahrt auf d. Weg ins 3. Jahrtsd.|last=von Puttkamer|first=Jesco|publisher=Umschau-Verlag|year=1985|isbn=3-524-69054-8|location=Frankfurt am Main|pages=13}}

He was granted United States citizenship in 1967.

Puttkammer was a consultant and technical advisor for Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), contributing the hypothetical theory behind the faster-than-light space warp drive, and the wormhole effect featured in the film.{{Cite magazine|last=von Puttkamer|first=Jesco|date=Apr 1980|editor-last=Zimmerman|editor-first=Howard|others=Reproduction of original memo by Jesco von Puttkamer|title=The Origin of Star Trek's Wormhole|magazine=Starlog|publisher=O'Quinn Studios, Inc.|issue=33|issn=0191-4626}}

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.{{Citation needed|date=December 2017}}

An interview of Puttkamer by Jörg Weigand was published in Perry Rhodan, Issue 2302.{{Cite magazine|last=Weigand|first=Jörg|date=30 Sep 2005|editor-last=Frick|editor-first=Klaus N.|editor2-last=Kasper|editor2-first=Hartmut|others=Perry Rhodan Journal #90, p. 3|title=Teuer wird der bemannte Flug immer sein|magazine=Perry Rhodan|language=de|publisher=Pabel-Moewig|issue=2302}} 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.{{Cite episode|title=Mondsüchtig - Warum wir nach 40 Jahren wieder hin wollen|series=Nachstudio|last=Panzer|first=Volker|network=ZDF|date=5 Jul 2009|language=de}}

Puttkamer was the author of more than a dozen books on space flight. He also wrote many science fiction short stories which were published by 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 German magazines.{{Cite web|url=http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?17420|title=Summary Bibliography: Jesco von Puttkamer|website=ISFDB|language=en-us|access-date=2017-12-27}}

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 anthology Star 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."{{Cite book|title=Star Trek: The New Voyages 2|last=von Puttkamer|first=Jesco|date=Sep 1979|publisher=Bantam Books|isbn=0-553-11392-5|editor-last=Marshak|editor-first=Sondra|editor-link=Sondra Marshak|location=New York|publication-date=Jan 1978|chapter=Introduction|editor-last2=Culbreath|editor-first2=Myrna|editor-link2=Myrna Culbreath}}{{Rp|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.

• 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.
• 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).{{Cite web|url=http://germanamericanpioneers.org/Dr.JescovonPuttkamer.swf?POPUP_ENABLED=true|title=Dr. Jesco von Puttkamer: 2008 Distinguished German-American of the Year|date=2009-01-09|website=GermanAmericanPioneers.org|format=Macromedia FlashPaper|access-date=2012-12-26}}
• Asteroid 266725 Vonputtkamer, discovered by Matthias Busch and Rainer Kresken at the ESA Optical Ground Station in 2009, was named in his honor. The official {{MoMP|266725|naming citation}} was published by the Minor Planet Center on 12 October 2011 ({{small|M.P.C. 76677}}).

The following bibliography is incomplete:

• Der Unheimliche vom anderen Stern (June 1958), Pabel. Originally published by Dörnersche Verlagsgesellschaft (1957).
• Das unsterbliche Universum (24 June 1960), with Clark Darlton, Terra Astra #123 (Moewig). Originally published by Belowa (1959).
• Galaxis ahoi! (12 August 1960), Terra #131 (Moewig). Originally published by Dörnersche Verlagsgesellschaft (1959).
• Das Zeit-Manuskript (15 September 1961), Terra #191 (Moewig). Originally published by Balowa (1960).
• Die Reise des schlafenden Gottes (19 February 1960), Terra Sonderband #25 (Moewig).
• Die sechste Phase (27 October 1961), Terra #197 (Moewig). Originally published by Belowa (1961).
• Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.

• "Der integrierende Faktor" (1956) Utopia Sonderband #2 (Pabel).
• "Zu jung für die Ewigkeit" (1956) Utopia Science Fiction Magazin #3 (Pabel).
• "Wer zuletzt lacht" (1956), Utopia Science Fiction Magazin #4 (Pabel).
• "Heldentod" (September 1956) Utopia Science Fiction Magazin #9 (Pabel).
• "The Sleeping God," Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 (January 1978), Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath, eds., Bantam Books {{ISBN|0-553-11392-5}}.
• "Am Ende der Zukunft," Beteigeuze (June 1981), Thomas Le Blanc, ed., Goldmann SF #23385 (Goldmann) {{ISBN|3-442-23385-2}}.
• "Danke für den Tip!," Science Fiction Almanach 1983 (December 1982), H. J. Alpers, ed., Moewig SF #3603 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-3603-X}}.
• "Bestimmung," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 [Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.
• "Danke für den Tip," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.
• "Der Super-Zweikampf," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.
• "Hausieren verboten," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.
• "Selbst ist der Mann," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.
• "Simultanzeit," Elektronengehirne, Wurmlöcher und Weltmodelle (December 1985), Jesco von Puttkamer, ed., Utopia Classics #84 (Moewig) {{ISBN|3-8118-5030-X}}.

• Apollo 8, Aufbruch ins All (1969), Heyne (Heyne Sachbuch #130).
• Jahrtausendprojekt Mars: Chance und Schicksal der Menschheit (1996), Langen-Müller {{ISBN|3-7844-2571-2}}.
• Abenteuer Apollo 11: von der Mondlandung zur Erkundung des Mars (22 June 2009), Herbig {{ISBN|978-3-7766-2616-2}}.

• NASA
• Vision for Space Exploration
• German-American Heritage Foundation of the USA

{{reflist|30em|refs=

{{Cite web

|title = Jesco von Puttkamer: 1933-2012

|date = 2012-12-27

|website = NASA

|url = https://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/von_puttkamer_obit.html

|access-date = 2017-12-26

|archive-date = 2020-11-12

|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20201112033106/http://www.nasa.gov/topics/people/features/von_puttkamer_obit.html

|url-status = dead

}}

{{cite web

|title = 266725 Vonputtkamer (2009 RU26)

|work = Minor Planet Center

|url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/db_search/show_object?object_id=266725

|access-date = 5 September 2019}}

{{cite web

|title = MPC/MPO/MPS Archive

|work = Minor Planet Center

|url = https://www.minorplanetcenter.net/iau/ECS/MPCArchive/MPCArchive_TBL.html

|access-date = 5 September 2019}}

}}

• {{Isfdb name|id=17420}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140524023030/http://www.von-puttkamer.de/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=106:jesco-hans-heinrich-max-frhr-v-puttkamer-xxi-1405&catid=4:persoenlichkeiten&Itemid=18 Homepage des Verbandes des Geschlechtes v.Puttkamer] (in German)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Puttkamer, Jesco von}}

Jesco

Category:Rocket scientists

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Category:Star Trek fiction writers

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Category:Apollo program

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