Gene Lee

After WWII when the von Braun Team, under Operation Paperclip, was settled in Fort Bliss, Texas, the U.S. Army established the 9330th Technical Services Unit (TSU) to provide military support to the team. The 9330th members were primarily special draftees who had completed education in fields such as engineering or other technical disciplines needed to support the German rocket team’s activities. Mentored by experts, they assisted in development of some of the Army’s earliest rocket and missile systems. When the von Braun Team was relocated to Huntsville in 1950, the 9330th also was transferred. Thus, Private First Class Gene Lee of Mississippi, as Electronic Fire Control Equipment Repair Supervisor, found himself a member of the 1951-1952 unit of the 9330th at Redstone Arsenal.

 Following military service, he remained in Huntsville, married Margaret Lincoln (a native of Madison County), and continued working at Redstone Arsenal in the Guidance and Control Division of Ordnance Missile Laboratories (soon to become Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA). 

When NASA established Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in 1960, Gene was among those who transferred to the new organization. From 1961-1969, he worked in the Flight Dynamics Branch of the Guidance and Control (G&C) Laboratory. Continuing to function in the inherited ABMA organizational structure and building upon experience with the Army’s Redstone and Jupiter rockets, the G&C Lab handled most aspects of guidance and control for the Saturn I class of rockets. However, the size and complexity of the new multi-stage Saturn V program resulted in organizational changes. In 1962, the G&C Lab was renamed the Astrionics Laboratory and organized into eight divisions. Gene was identified as a technical leader in the Simulation Facilities Branch of the Flight Dynamics Division. Another MSFC organizational change in 1969 resulted in a newly created Computer Division in Astrionics Lab, with Gene as one of the two technical leaders in the Flight Systems Simulation Branch. In the mid-1970s, MSFC established a Systems Dynamics Laboratory; he was selected as Chief of the Systems Integration Branch in that lab. The Data Systems Laboratory, established in 1979, included an Engineering Computers Division; Gene served as Chief of the Systems Engineering Branch. 

He retired in 1981. He had been a participant in the evolution of rocket guidance and control development in a career that spanned the early days of U.S. rocketry and space exploration to the opening of the Space Shuttle era. In post-retirement, he continued to enjoy maintaining the family’s cattle farm in Madison County.

Gene is preceded in death by his wife, Margaret Lee.

He is survived by his son, Bruce Lee (Pamela); his grandson, Jesse Lee (Mary); and his brother, Carl Ray Lee. 

The family is having a graveside service at 2 p.m. at Charity Cemetery on Thursday, October 29, 2026. Pastor Jason Caldwell is officiating the service.

Hazel Green Funeral Home is honored to serve the family.