He invented and managed the White Room atop the launch tower where astronauts prepared for takeoff on the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab projects.
John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, dubbed Guenter Wendt "The Pad Fuehrer." Pete Conrad, the third man to walk on the moon, jokingly called him a "dictator." And Alan Shepard, the first American in space, presented Wendt with a prop German helmet from "Hogan's Heroes" that was adorned with swastikas and labeled "Col. Guenter Klink."
As pad leader for NASA contractors at Cape Kennedy Space Center, the German-born Wendt was in charge of the White Room, the controlled environment at the top of the launch tower where astronauts prepare to enter the spacecraft. He would be the last person the astronauts saw before their spacecraft hatch was closed.
http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/scimedemail/la-me-guenter-wendt-20100506,0,266868.story
