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Marshall Becomes a NASA Field Center

Dr. Wernher von Braun, Marshall’s first center director, shows President Dwight D. Eisenhower a model of the Saturn IB as they
The Marshall Center was activated on July 1, 1960, as 4,670 Army civil servants became NASA personnel, and the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency transferred 1,840 acres of arsenal land along with buildings, space projects and equipment.

The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, was activated on July 1, 1960, as 4,670 Army civil servants became NASA personnel, and the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency transferred 1,840 acres of arsenal land along with buildings, space projects and equipment. President Dwight David Eisenhower came to Huntsville to dedicate the center on September 8, 1960. This photo shows Dr. Wernher von Braun, Marshall’s first center director, viewing a model of the Saturn IB as he and Eisenhower toured the Marshall Center. Eisenhower named the center in honor of General George C. Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff during World War II, Secretary of State, and Nobel Prize Winner for his world-renowned “Marshall Plan.”

Image credit: NASA