Qian Xuesen (simplified Chinese: 钱学森; traditional Chinese: 錢學森; pinyin: Qián Xuésēn; Wade-Giles: Tsien Hsue-shen) (11 December 1911 – 31 October 2009) was a scientist who made important contributions to the missile and space programs of both the United States and People's Republic of China. NASA documents commonly refer to him as H.S. Tsien.^[1]

During the 1940s Qian was one of the founders of Jet Propulsion Laboratory^[2] at the California Institute of Technology. During the red scare of the 1950s the United States government accused Qian of having communist sympathies. Qian was wrongfully imprisoned^[3] at Alcatraz. Stripped of his security clearance, Qian decided to go back to China. After being under house arrest for 5 years, from 1950-55, Qian was released in exchange for the return of US pilots captured during the Korean war. Notified by U.S. authorities that he was free to go, Qian immediately arranged to go back to China in September of 1955 on American President Lines, Pres. Cleveland via Hong Kong. He returned to China and led the Chinese rocket program, and became known as the "Father of Chinese Rocketry" (or "King of Rocketry").