[Wernher Von Braun]

NASA History Office. "Remembering George Mueller, Leader of Early Human Spaceflight." 15 October, 2015. <https://www.nasa.gov/feature/remembering-george-mueller-leader-of-early-human-spaceflight>

Space Missile and Systems Center, United States Space Force. "Gen. Samuel C. Phillips: A retrospective on the director of the Apollo program and former commander of the Space and Missile Systems Organization." 16 July, 2019. <https://www.losangeles.spaceforce.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1917223/gen-samuel-c-phillips-a-retrospective-on-the-director-of-the-apollo-program-and/>

A RARE VINTAGE IMAGE, SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH OF NASA TRAILBLAZERS

Wernher Von Braun was the famed German-American aerospace engineer, and a complicated figure who worked on the development of rocket technology in Germany, and later became the father of rocket technology and space science in the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. 

USAF General Sam C. Phillips was the director of the Apollo program from 1964 - 1969. Dr. Wernher Von Braun singled out Phillips as the person chiefly responsible for making sure the Apollo program was successful and within budget. Phillips investigated delays and issues, penning a summary of his findings in what later became notoriously known as "The Phillips Report" after the Apollo 1 fire. After the success of Apollo 11, Phillips left NASA to return to active Air Force duty and later went on to direct the NSA.

George E. Mueller is credited with creating and leading the Office of Manned Spaceflight at NASA Headquarters, what is now the Human Operations and Exploration Mission Directorate. Mueller was originally sworn in as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight on September 1, 1963, but his title quickly changed to Associate Administrator for Manned Space flight after an internal reorganization and he remained in that role until he left NASA in December 1969. He shepherded the agency through the completion of the Apollo program as well as the early development of Skylab and space shuttle projects.

Dr. Kurt H. Debus was a German-American V-2 rocket scientist and engineer who became the first director of the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Dr. Robert R. "Bob" Gilruth is considered the father of the U. S. crewed space program. Gilruth served as the Director of the Manned Spacecraft Center from 1961 -1972, during which he managed 25 crewed space flights including Alan Shepard's first Mercury flight, the Apollo 11 lunar landing, the rescue of Apollo 13, and Apollo 15.