Pioneer rocket scientist Lowell Randall dies in NM (AP)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. ? A New Mexico funeral home has confirmed that Lowell Randall, a pioneer rocket scientist who helped launched the U.S. space program, has died at age 96.

His biographer says the Roswell-born scientist died Tuesday of natural causes at a Las Cruces nursing home.

Randall was part of a team led by rocket pioneer Robert Goddard who developed liquid Jet Assist Take Off rocket engines, a key element for spaceflights to the moon. He later became Goddard's chief test engineer at the Naval Research Station at Annapolis, Md.

Randall returned to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to test Redstone rocket engines, which were used to send the first American astronauts into space. Randall then led a team at Martin Marietta Corporation in Colorado to test intercontinental ballistic missiles.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obits/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120106/ap_on_re_us/us_obit_randall

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