Schreiber became the associate leader of W Division in 1947 , and then the head of the division in 1951 . During this time , W Division worked on the development of the hydrogen bomb . He was once again in charge of the pit crew for the Ivy Mike nuclear test on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific , the first test of a thermonuclear device . Even the veteran Schreiber was impressed by the explosion . " It really filled up the sky , " he recalled , " It was awesome . It just went on and on . " In 1955 , Schreiber became the head of the Nuclear Rocket Propulsion ( N ) Division , which was responsible for Project Rover and NERVA . N Division developed nuclear rocket engines required for deep space exploration . He oversaw the first successful test of a nuclear rocket engine in 1959 , In this capacity , he greeted President John F. Kennedy during the president 's visit to Los Alamos in 1962 . That year , he became Technical Associate Director , with responsibility for the entire nuclear rocket propulsion program . He became Deputy Director of Los Alamos in 1972 , and served as a member of the United States Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and NASA 's Advisory Committee on Nuclear Systems
Ivy Mike
Ivy Mike
Raemer Schreiber