Ernst Stuhlinger, 94; Space Program Pioneer

He was deeply involved in providing the instrumentation for spacecraft and in helping develop the research equipment they carried. This responsibility received formal recognition, Ordway said, in Dr. Stuhlinger's title of associate director for science in Von Braun's organization.

Ernst Stuhlinger was born in Niederrimbach, Germany, on Dec. 19, 1913, and received a PhD from the University of Tübingen.

He was a hardy young man who rode over all the mountain passes of the Alps on a bicycle without a gearshift, Petroff said.

Dr. Stuhlinger was a university professor, Petroff said, when he was drafted into the German army and placed as a private in a unit that was sent to the Russian front to try to free the German forces encircled at Stalingrad.

"I was a PhD Pfc," Petroff quoted him as saying.

He later joined Von Braun at the German rocket center at Peenemünde, where he worked on the improvement of the V-2 rocket guidance system. The V-2 wreaked havoc in London toward the end of World War II.

In an article written for the Huntsville Times in 1995, Dr. Stuhlinger said of such work: "We were convinced that the war would be over before new systems could be used on military rockets. . . . We were convinced that somehow our work would find application in future rockets that would not aim at London, but at the moon."

He was brought to this country with Von Braun and others from his team after the war, became a citizen, appreciated the warmth with which he was received and "loved everything about America," Petroff said.

Survivors include his wife, two sons and a daughter.