On March 15, 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed an executive order officially naming the George C. Marshall Space Flight Center after his close friend General Marshall, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Marshall Plan that provided aid to Europe as it recovered from World War II. Later that same year, on September 8, President Eisenhower visited Huntsville, Ala. to dedicate the new NASA field center. The George C. Marshall Space Flight Center was placed under the direction of Dr. Wernher Von Braun, shown here talking with President Eisenhower. As part of his remarks dedicating the center, President Eisenhower referred to General Marshall as a “man of war, yet a builder of peace.” The Marshall Center’s first major assignment included building the huge Saturn V rocket that launched human beings on their first journey to the surface of the moon in 1969. On March 16, 1960, an executive order transferring the Saturn rocket program from the Army to NASA became effective.
Image credit: NASA