Career
By the end of the war, he was transferred to the United States by the United States Army (see Operation Paperclip and German rocket scientists in the United States) where he resumed his work with von Braun"s group in Fort Bliss, Texas. During the nine years Thiel worked for the United States. Army, he held positions at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and at Huntsville, Alabama. He primarily supervised preliminary design of the Redstone missile and other shortand intermediate-range ballistic missile systems
Thiel left the Army in 1955 to join Space Technology Laboratories, which later became Thompson Ramo Wooldridge. During the late 1950s, he was program manager for the Thor ballistic missile, which became a first-stage launch for the Explorer spacecraft.
He was director of space projects for Thompson Ramo Wooldridge when it developed Explorer VI and Pioneer V, two of the earliest United States craft to explore interplanetary space. He oversaw all of Thompson Ramo Wooldridge"s space programs during the 1970s.
After his retirement in 1980 as a senior vice president, Thiel served as an executive consultant to Thompson Ramo Wooldridge and on National Aeronautics and Space Administration planning groups. He was named a fellow of the American Astronautical Society in 1968.