Wernher von Braun

Walter Dornberger and the Spaceplane

Walter Dornberger and the Spaceplane

On September 6, 1895, German Mechanical Engineer and Army artillery officer Walter Dornberger was born. Dornberger is known as a leader of Nazi Germany‘s V-2 rocket program and other projects at the Peenemünde Army Research Center. After World War II Dornberger played a major role on the creation of the X-15 aircraft and was a key consultant for the X-20 Dyna-Soar project. He also had a role on the creation of ideas…
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Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – the Father of Practical Astronautics

Sergei Pavlovich Korolev – the Father of Practical Astronautics

On January 12, 1907, lead Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race Sergei Korolev was born. Korolev is regarded by many as the “father of practical astronautics“. He was involved in the development of the R-7 Rocket, Sputnik 1,[1] launching Laika, Belka and Strelka and the first human being, Yuri Gagarin,[2] into space. “Today we are witnesses to the fulfillment of the dream that occupied some outstanding people, among them…
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Willy Ley and the German Society for Space Travel

Willy Ley and the German Society for Space Travel

On October 2, 1906, German-American engineer, science writer, spaceflight advocate, and historian of science Willy Ley was born. Ley is known for being one of the first members of the German Society for Space Travel, one of the first group of men to experiment with rockets. Fiercely anti-Nazi, unlike Wernher von Braun, in 1934, he emigrated to the U.S. rather than pursuing military applications of rocketry. In the U.S., he became a popularizer of space…
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Hermann Oberth’s Dream of Space Travel

Hermann Oberth’s Dream of Space Travel

On June 25, 1894, Austro-Hungarian-born German physicist and engineer Hermann Oberth was born. He was the first, who when thinking about the possibility of spaceships grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs. Hermann Oberth Background Maybe you have already heard of the ‘Oberth Effect‘. In interplanetary spaceflight, the Oberth effect is used in a powered flyby where the application of an impulse, typically from a rocket engine, close to a…
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The First US Space Station Skylab

The First US Space Station Skylab

On May 25, 1973, the first crew of astronauts reached the US space station Skylab. Skylab was the very first US space station and orbited Earth from 1973 to 1979. A Brief History of Space Stations The first to give serious, scientifically grounded consideration to space stations were Konstantin Tsiolkovsky [7] and Hermann Oberth [8] about two decades apart in the early 20th century. In 1929 Herman Potočnik‘s The Problem of Space Travel was published,…
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Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – Founding Father of Astronautics

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky – Founding Father of Astronautics

On September 17, 1857, Russian and Soviet rocket scientist and pioneer of the astronautic theory Konstantin Tsiolkovsky was born. He is considered to be one of the founding fathers of rocketry and astronautics and contributed to the success of the Soviet space program. “Man will not always stay on Earth; the pursuit of light and space will lead him to penetrate the bounds of the atmosphere, timidly at first, but in the end…
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A4 – The First Human Built Vessel To Touch Outer Space

A4 – The First Human Built Vessel To Touch Outer Space

On October 3, 1942, the very first vessel constructed by humans, the ‘Aggregat 4‘ (A4) touched outer space. The liquid-propellant rocket was designed to be the world‘s first long-range combat-ballistic missile, but also the first known human artifact to enter outer space. Space Pioneer Wernher von Brown Designer of the A4 was German rocket scientist and space pioneer Wernher von Braun, who was born on March 23, 1912, in Wirsitz (today Wyrzysk), Posen…
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James van Allen and the Weather in Space

James van Allen and the Weather in Space

On September 7, 1914, astrophysicist and space pioneer Dr. James Van Allen was born. The Van Allen radiation belts were named after him, following the 1958 satellite missions (Explorer 1 and Explorer 3) in which Van Allen had argued that a Geiger counter should be used to detect charged particles. “Apparently, something happens on the sun. It sends out a burst of gases. The reservoirs above our earth shake like a bowl…
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David Scott – the First Person to Drive on the Moon

David Scott – the First Person to Drive on the Moon

  On June 6, 1932, American engineer, test pilot and NASA astronaut David Randolph Scott was born. Scott became the seventh person to walk on the Moon as commander of the Apollo 15 mission, the fourth human lunar landing. Moreover, he was the first to drive a wheeled vehicle on the moon on 31 July 1971. “Man must explore. And this is exploration at its greatest.” — David R. Scott David Scott…
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