biography
| name: |
Hoffman, Samuel (Kurtz)
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1902– )
|
| biography:
| Rocket propulsion engineer, born in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, USA. He studied at Pennsylvania State University (1925), and became professor of aeronautical engineering there (1945–9). From 1949 he led the team developing rocket engines at North American Aviation, raising their power from an initial 75 000 pounds of thrust to 1·5 million pounds by the mid-1960s. Eight of these engines powered the multi-stage Saturn 5 launching vehicle which in 1969 took US astronauts on the first stage of their journey to the Moon. |
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