Milton Klein

Milton Klein (January 13, 1924 – March 2, 2022) was an American nuclear engineer who was the head of the United States nuclear rocket program. He helped establish and lead the Space Nuclear Propulsion Office, a liaison organization between NASA and the Atomic Energy Commission to coordinate efforts to create a nuclear thermal rocket.

Biography Milton Klein was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on January 13, 1924. As boy he enjoyed baseball; he played sandlot ball and attended baseball games for free as part of the Knothole Gang program. He was educated at public schools in University City, Missouri, and graduated from University City High School, where he was valedictorian. During World War II he served in the U.S. Navy as an electronics technicians mate. He worked for the Mitre Corporation, as its associate technical director, responsible for directing its energy program, and was the director of Research, Development, and Technology Applications of the International Energy Agency in Paris. In 1980, he became vice president and head of the Office of Special Projects of the Electrical Power Research Institute (EPRI), the research and development arm of the United States electric utility industry,