German space travel

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German space travel is the umbrella term for the activities of the state of Germany or individual persons in the field of space travel . This can be the development of theoretical foundations, but also the design and construction of rockets or spaceships. The term covers several epochs or areas: weapon technology of the Middle Ages, German Empire (until 1945), Federal Republic of Germany (until 1990), German Democratic Republic (until 1990) and Germany (from 1990).

Theoretical foundations

Description of rocket technology as early as 1529

Already between 1529 and 1556 Conrad Haas (1509–1576) wrote an art book (Sibiu State Archives, Varia II 374) in which he described on 282 pages the two known areas of application (fireworks and weapons) of rocket technology. This manuscript was only found in the Sibiu State Archives in 1961. In his work, Haas deals with detailed manufacturing issues of rocket construction, explaining how the rocket works, and describes a variety of rocket types, such as the multi-stage rocket, the bundle rocket and the idea of ​​the modern spaceship.

Influenced by science fiction literature

Science fiction literature also influenced the scientific work of German scientists with ideas. Oberth was influenced, among other things, by the novels Jules Verne , such as the novel From the Earth to the Moon (1865) and Journey around the Moon (1870).

Conception of a spacecraft in 1880

After 1880 Hermann Ganswindt developed concepts for a spacecraft based on the recoil principle. It was supposed to be powered by dynamite explosions. He envisaged a two-stage concept. The spacecraft was to be towed in the air by a carrier. On May 27, 1891, he gave a public lecture in the Berlin Philharmonic in which he presented his concept of a world vehicle.

Designs by Oberth

In 1917, Hermann Oberth designed a rocket powered by ethanol and oxygen. In his influential book The Rocket for Planetary Spaces in 1923, he described the essential elements for building large-scale rockets powered by liquid fuel.

German Empire until 1945

The beginning time

The first manned rocket flight with the Lippisch duck in 1928 was the beginning of German space travel . The film industry also devoted itself to space travel. In 1929, for example, the director Fritz Lang shot the silent film Woman in the Moon . In the years from 1927 to 1934 the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR) brought the magazine " Die Rakete " (first specialist magazine for rocket technology and space travel) onto the market.

In the technical field, the first solid rocket of the Mirak (minimum rocket) type was developed at the beginning of the 1930s . In the period from 1930 to 1933, a rocket airfield was also built in Berlin . Friedrich Schmiedl developed postal rockets in Austria in the early 1930s.

The breakthrough finally came in 1931. Johannes Winkler let the first liquid rocket in Europe soar into the sky. In the same year, Reinhold Tiling also succeeded in launching a solid fuel rocket.

In the literature of the time, space travel was taken up in the works of Rudolf Nebel , Klaus Riedel and Willy Ley , and Max Valier wrote the book The Advance into Space in 1924 .

In addition, some specialist books were also produced, including for example by

Missiles for World War II

A4 take off from test stand VII in summer 1943

Several new types of missiles were developed for the military during World War II. These included:

The following types of missiles were also built for the military.

see also: List of test launches of the A4 rocket , list of rocket types in Germany up to 1945

In order to test and launch all of these rockets, a research facility and test stand VII (rocket launch pad) were built in Peenemünde . Later the Peenemünde-West airfield was added as an extension of the research institute . The client here was the Army Weapons Office at the " Kummersdorf-Gut " site of the Wehrmacht.

These rockets were primarily produced in the Dora central building near Nordhausen in Kohnstein .

The rocket technician Wernher von Braun , who was a member of the Association for Space Travel from 1929, is considered to be the actual developer of the rockets . From 1937 he took over the position of technical director of the development program for military missiles in Kummersdorf.

The following people were also involved in the development of such missiles:

They were all brought to the United States as part of Operation Overcast to carry out further research in the field of missile technology.

see also: Rockets and rocket planes in World War II , the military and industry discover space travel , German Aviation Research Institute , German Aviation Research Institute

German technicians after World War II

A4 on the launch pad at White Sands

After the end of the Second World War, many German technicians were brought to the USA as part of Operation Overcast in order to make their knowledge usable for American missile technology.

Similar to Operation Overcast, the British tried to bring German scientists into the kingdom for rocket tests under the code name Operation Backfire .

The rocket engineer Wernher von Braun was actively involved in the American Apollo moon landing program. Helmut Gröttrup , the most important German missile specialist, went to the Soviet Union after the end of the war. He worked in the Soviet missile program from 1945 to 1947. The scientist Krafft Arnold Ehricke became director of the Centaur program from 1959 . Kurt Heinrich Debus was director of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida from 1962 to 1974 .

The following scientists also dealt with rocket and space technology:

see also: history of space travel

Federal Republic of Germany until 1990

Galileo
TV-SAT

The space activities of the GDR

25 years of manned space flight
stamps of the GDR 1986

The GDR took part in the Interkosmos program of the Soviet Union (see also: Interkosmos ) and was involved in the Mars probe Fobos .

In the technical field, scientists in the GDR developed the MKF 6 multispectral camera . It was used for cosmic remote sensing of the earth.

The only cosmonaut of the GDR was from Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz native Sigmund Jähn . He was the first German in space. As a substitute for him, Eberhard Köllner was trained in Moscow.

The NVA training area on Zingst was used as a test site for missiles from 1970 to 1992 ( missile experiments on Zingst ).

German space travel from 1990

Rocket launch sites

Germany had different launch sites for its rocket launches. Some of them were in Germany, but also abroad. Today, these systems are no longer in operation, Germany used the spaceport of ESA in French Guiana .

Historical

A missile test site for military missiles was built near Berlin in 1930. In 1933 it was shut down due to war preparations. Today you can still find the remains of old bunkers and walls.

In the years from 1936 to 1945 the National Socialists used a military base in Peenemünde on the island of Usedom for the development of the V2. The HVA Peenemünde is considered the first spaceport in the world.

After the Second World War, some rocket experiments were carried out in Cuxhaven from 1945 to 1964 (see also: Rocket launches in Cuxhaven ).

The German company OTRAG used two test sites abroad. This was on the one hand Kapani Tonneo (Shaba / Katanga) in Zaïre from 1988 to 1992 and on the other hand from 1977 to 1979 in Camp Tawiwa (Seba oasis) in Libya .

Universities specializing in aerospace

You can study aerospace at the following universities:

See also

literature

  • Niklas Reinke: History of the German space policy. Concepts, influencing factors and interdependencies: 1923–2002 , Munich 2004, ISBN 3-486-56842-6
  • Trischler, Helmuth / Schrogl, Kai-Uwe (eds.): A century in flight. Aerospace research in Germany 1907–2007. Frankfurt / New York 2007.

Web links

Institutions