Mr. Haltermann was born in Johnson City, New York and lived parts of his youth in New Jersey and Maine. He graduated from Admiral Farragut Academy and won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy from Maine’s 2nd District Congressman Charles P. Nelson. Upon graduation from the Naval Academy in 1958, Mr. Haltermann was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He became one of the first Atlas-ICBM Launch Officers assigned to the nation’s first operational ICBM wing at Francis E. Warren AFB, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Captain Haltermann and his crew were on duty throughout the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. In later years, on tour in Russia and listening to folk singers while having lunch in the Kremlin, he remarked how strange it was being entertained by those who were once targeted by nuclear missiles under his control. In 1963, he took a position with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland. During his tenure at Goddard he led a team to integrate and launch scientific satellites from the Western Test Range that resulted in three successful launches; directed advanced upper stage development programs and performed pioneering work on solid, cryogenic liquid and hybrid engines and stages; and led the effort for seeing the Center’s payload accommodations designed into the new Space Shuttle transportation system. After three years at the Consumer Product Safety Commission where he was involved in the recall process of over 200 hazardous products, Mr. Haltermann returned to NASA Headquarters to develop Space Shuttle utilization policy. One policy accommodated the first non-government space participants as Payload Specialists. In 1984, he retired from NASA to become a principal for an entrepreneurship that chartered the Space Shuttle as a private space liner. He represented the company’s interests to White House and Congressional leaders, negotiated payload integration agreements with NASA and service contracts with payload customers. After booking the inaugural flight, the venture ended prematurely in the wake of the Challenger accident. Mr. Haltermann then became an Associate Contractor supporting the International Space Station. He performed development work in the areas of operations and commercial utilization for the NASA Headquarters and Program offices. Mr. Haltermann’s NASA awards included the Apollo Operations Task Force Group Achievement Award. Towards the end of his career he joined the Space Transportation Association and led an effort to lay the groundwork for the coming of public space travel. He conducted the “Going Public” series of space tourism conferences. His Division distinguished itself by being awarded the first Space Tourism Pioneer “Orbit” Award for a not-for-profit organization.
Mr. Haltermann co-owned with his wife Phyllis a travel agency. They traveled extensively to Europe, Asia, Africa and North and South America. He enjoyed the live theater, symphony and opera as he regularly attended the Kennedy Center, National Theater and on several occasions the London Stage.
Mr. Haltermann’s marriage to Kayla Winrow Fitzmaurice ended in divorce. From that marriage he is survived by two sons, Kurt Warren Haltermann of Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ryan Scott Haltermann of Calgary, Alberta and a daughter, Leslie Kim Prosser of Surry, British Columbia, seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mr. Haltermann’s second wife, the former Phyllis Ann Clar, preceded him in death in 2009.
The family will receive guests on Friday, June 13th from 1:00pm until 2:00pm when the Memorial Service will be held at the funeral home. Arrangements were made by: Kraeer Funeral Home and Cremation Center, 200 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach, FL 33062. Phone: 954-941-4111
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