Rocket city thrives in unlikely oasis

A Saturn rocket reproduction towers over Huntsville.

From Fred Katayama
CNN Financial News

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama (CNN) -- Unlike other technology centers like San Jose, California, and Seattle, Washington, one small city in the Deep South has dodged the recession and actually thrived.

Turning out everything from smart weapons to digital telecom equipment, and boasting one of the highest concentrations of raw brainpower, the town known as Rocket City began its high-tech ascent decades ago when the United States first dreamed of sending humans into space.

Just one of the new technologies developed in Huntsville, Alabama, is simulation software used to plan the war on terrorists.

From ballistic missile prototypes for a national defensive umbrella to tactical missiles being used in Afghanistan, all were developed, nurtured and tested in Huntsville, said Al Sullivan, vice president of Colsa, a software and engineering firm.

Once known more for its cotton fields, the city of 158,000 today is to missiles what Detroit is to cars. It is home to Redstone Arsenal, which developed the first U.S. heavy ballistic missiles, and the Marshall Space Flight Center, which developed every rocket that blasted U.S. astronauts into space.

What transformed Huntsville into a high-tech oasis was the aftermath of World War II. The United States wanted to advance its rocket program. And after the collapse of Nazi Germany, it lured a team of German rocket scientists, led by Werner von Braun, across the Atlantic.

The German rocketeers, who developed the advanced V-2 rockets that rained down destruction of Great Britain during the war, eventually settled in 1950 in Huntsville, where they developed the rocket engines that Saturn 5 rocket that blasted the Apollo astronauts to the moon.

Von Braun's presence convinced many entrepreneurs to relocate to Huntsville, including Mark Smith, founder of the telecom equipment maker Adtran, which sells high-speed digital communication equipment to the Baby Bells.

"It was the technology, and NASA was the attraction. The reason NASA the technology were here, if you want to go one step further, it was due to Wernher von Braun," Smith said.

The city's major asset: brain power. One of every 13 people is an engineer. It is home to 35 former generals, many of them executives at big tech firms. Former employees of the arsenal and NASA started more than 60 percent of the companies in town.

The talent pool has lured aerospace giants like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman to open offices there. The only downside that companies complain about is Huntsville's last name.

"One of the biggest drawbacks is when most people think of Alabama, they think of some backward state," said Nancy Archuleta, chief executive officer of Mevatec, which offers engineering services and support for both commercial and government projects.