Germany Credit - © Mark Wade

• German Diaspora.

• German Civilian Rocketry.

• Bitburg AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49.9000. Longitude: 6.5100.

• Cuxhaven. Agency: British Army/Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Niedersachsen. Latitude: 53.8488. Longitude: 8.5915.

• Hahn AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49.8000. Longitude: 7.2500.

• Heidekraut. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Tucheler Heide (now in Poland). Latitude: 53.6197. Longitude: 17.9849.

• Heidelager. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Truppenubungsplatz Heidelager, Blizna, Krakow, Poland. Latitude: 50.1819. Longitude: 21.6162.

• Kummersdorf. Agency: Heereswaffenamt. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Kummersdorf-West. Latitude: 52.0500. Longitude: 13.2000.

• Neu Ulm. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48.3778. Longitude: 10.0125.

• Peenemuende. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Heersversuchsstelle Peenemuende, Usedom, Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Latitude: 54.1686. Longitude: 13.8012.

• Raketenflugplatz. Agency: Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Reinickendorf-West, Berlin. Latitude: 52.3500. Longitude: 13.2100.

• Schwaebisch-Gmuend. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 48.8150. Longitude: 9.8081.

• Sembach AB. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 49.5100. Longitude: 7.8000.

• V-2 Gruppe Nord. Agency: SS. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Holland. Latitude: 52.1685. Longitude: 4.3945.

• V-2 Gruppe Sued. Agency: SS. Type: IRBM Base. Location: Hachenburg, Germany. Latitude: 50.6569. Longitude: 7.8202.

• Waldheide-Neckarsulm. Agency: US Army. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRBM Base. Latitude: 49.1292. Longitude: 9.2753.

• Wueschheim. Agency: USAF. Operating Country: USA. Type: IRCM Base. Latitude: 50.0425. Longitude: 7.4183.

• Zingst. Agency: German Army. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 54.4401. Longitude: 12.7843.

• Kapani Tonneo. Agency: OTRAG. Operator: Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Location: Shaba. Latitude: 7°55'31.56" S. Longitude: 28°31'33.38" E.

• Tawiwa. Agency: OTRAG. Operator: Germany. Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Latitude: 26°33'35.79" N. Longitude: 13°10'14.36" E.

• A1. - test vehicle - Status: Design 1933. First in series of rockets leading to V-2. Exploded at Kummersdorf during a test run. Considered aerodynamically unstable (a stabilising flywheel was mounted forward) and no launch attempts were made.

• A2. - test vehicle - Status: Retired 1934. First flight test rocket in the series that led to the V-2. Two were built, dubbed Max and Moritz. Both were successfully flown.

• A3. - test vehicle - Status: Retired 1937. The A3 was the first large rocket attempted by Wernher von Braun's rocket team. It was equipped with an ambitious guidance package consisting of three gyroscopes and two integrating accelerometers. The rocket was intended as a subscale prototype for the propulsion and control system technology planned for the much larger A4. All of the launches were failures, and a total redesign, the A5, was developed.

• A4b. - intermediate range boost-glide missile - Status: Retired 1945. Winged boost-glide version of the V-2 missile. The A4b designation was used to disguise work on the prohibited A9 program.

• A5. - test vehicle - Status: Retired 1942. Subscale test model of A4 (V-2). Replaced the A3 in this role after its unsuccessful test series. The A5 used the same powerplant as the A3, but had the aerodynamic form of the A4 and a new control system. 25 all-up versions were flown, some several times.

• A6. - intermediate range cruise missile - Status: Design 1943. The A6 designation was applied to a version of the A5 subscale V-2 using alternate propellants. It also seems to have been applied to a manned, ramjet-powered version of the A9 winged V-2.

• A7. - test vehicle - Status: Cancelled 1940. Subscale test model of the A9 rocket. Considered for use as a weapon as well.

• A8. - cruise missile - Status: Study 1941. Planned stretched version of the V-2 with storable propellants. Never reached the hardware stage, but design continued after the war in France as the 'Super V-2'.

• A9/A10. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. The A9/A10 was the world’s first practical design for a transatlantic ballistic missile. Design of the two stage missile began in 1940 and first flight would have been in 1946. Work on the A9/A10 was prohibited after 1943 when all efforts were to be spent on perfection and production of the A4 as a weapon-in-being. Von Braun managed to continue some development and flight tests of the A9 under the cover name of A4b (i.e. a modification of the A4, and therefore a production-related project). In late 1944 work on the A9/A10 resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika, but no significant hardware development was possible after the last test of the A4b in January 1945.

• A9/A10/A11. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1944. The A11 was planned at Peenemuende to use the A9/A10 transoceanic missile atop the tubby A11 stage to form the basis for launching the first earth satellite - or as an ICBM....

• A9/A10/A11/A12. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. The A12 has been named as the designation for a true orbital launch vehicle, as sketched out at Peenemuende. It would have been a four-stage vehicle consisting of the A9+A10+A11+A12 stages. Caluclation suggest it could have placed 10 tonnes into low earth orbit.

• Astros. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Sled-launched horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing single stage to orbit. Essentially similar to FESTIP FSS-4

• Beta. - SSTO orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1969. In 1969 rocket pioneer Dietrich Koelle was working at MBB (Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm). There he sketched out a reusable VTOVL design called BETA using Bono's SASSTO as a starting point. The vehicle, taking European technology into account, was a bit heavier than Bono's design. But the thorough analysis showed even this design would be capable of delivering 2 tonnes of payload to orbit.

• Beta II. - SSTO orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. Beta II was Dietrich Koelle's nominal 350 tonne lift-off mass SSTO design for launch of a 10 tonne European spaceplane.

• Beta III. - SSTO orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. In 1969 Dietrich Koelle proposed his BETA III design. This was to deliver 20 tonnes to orbit with a launch mass of 600 tonnes. In 1996 and 1998 he updated the design for use as an ISS resupply vehicle in place of the shuttle, and as a space tourism vehicle for 100 passengers.

• Beta IV. - SSTO orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1987. Beta II was Dietrich Koelle's largest SSTO concept, with a nominal 2000 tonne lift-off mass SSTO design and 100 tonne payload.

• Cirrus. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1961. Cirrus was a two-stage sounding rocket developed by the German Rocket Society in the late 1950's. All launches were made from Cuxhaven, and discontinued when the German government prohibited civilian rocket launches in June 1964. The propellant was developed by the DRG and fabricated at Liebenau Company for Production of Chemical Materials (GmbH zur Verwertung chemischer Erzeugnisse Liebenau).

• DSL HTHL. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Horizontal Takeoff / Horizontal Landing Two Stage to Orbit proposal with Mach 3 stage separation. Later evolved into the FESTIP FSS-11,which was merged with FSS-12. Reusable and expendable upper stage options.

• EARL. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1988. Vertical takoff / horizontal landing two-stage launch vehicle study from the 1980s.

• EBH LV. - orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1949. The EBH (Engel - Bödewaldt - Hanischlaunch) vehicle was a 1949 manned design which would had a gross launch mass of 220 tonnes and delivered a payload of 3 tonnes to a 557-kilometre orbit

• Enzian. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II but abandoned in 1945 in favour of Wasserfall.

• Forschungsflugkorper. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1974. Single stage vehicle.

• He-112. - winged rocketplane - Status: Cancelled 1940. The Heinkel He-112 was an unsuccessful pre-war German monoplane fighter, competing for orders with the Bf 109. However it entered rocketry history when tests were conducted with rocket engines.

• HW-1. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1931. Johannes Winkler was a founding member and president of the VfR. On 14 March 1931, his HW-1 lifted off from a field outside of Dessau, Germany, becoming the first liquid fuel rocket in Europe to be successfully launched.

• HW-2. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1932. Johannes Winkler followed up his experimental HW-1 by the much larger and ambitious HW-2, which had an aerodynamic teardrop-shaped outer shell and a very respectful fuel mass fraction of 72% using an aluminium-magnesium structure.

• Hytex. - winged rocketplane - Status: Study. Following the cancellation of Saenger II, Germany briefly considered a manned X-15/NASP type flight test vehicle (HYTEX) capable of Mach 6 flight. This too was cancelled for cost reasons.

• Kumulus. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1959. Kumulus was a single-stage sounding rocket developed by the German Rocket Society in the late 1950's. It could carry meteorological, postal, or biological payloads up to a speed of 750 m/s and an altitude of 20 km. All launches were made from Cuxhaven, and discontinued when the German government prohibited civilian rocket launches in June 1964. The propellant was developed by the DRG and fabricated at Liebenau Company for Production of Chemical Materials (GmbH zur Verwertung chemischer Erzeugnisse Liebenau).

• LART. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1985. MBB/ERNO airbreathing horizontal takeoff / horizontal landing single stage to orbit proposal from the mid-1980s. Largely similar to the BAe HOTOL.

• Magdeburg. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1933. Rudolf Nebel's subscale prototype for a man-carrying rocket was flown eight times in 1933. Further tests were prohibited by the Nazi government. This would be the largest German rocket launched until the A3 in 1937.

• Maul Camera Rocket. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1913. Maul conceived of using powder rockets to launch film cameras for military reconnaissance in 1901, beginning an 11 year development process.

• Maxus. - sounding rocket - Status: Active. The MAXUS micrograviy program was a collaboration between Sweden and Germany. The single-stage vehicle developed for the program used a Castor 4B motor, the largest fired from Western Europe.

• Me-163. - winged rocketplane - Status: Cancelled 1945. The rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me-163 was the world's first and only operational pure rocket fighter and represented the culmination of Alexander Lippisch's years of research in rocketplanes, tail-less aircraft, and delta wings. As a weapon, the Me-163 had tremendous speed but very limited range. However the concepts developed by Lippisch contributed to the Space Shuttle and Buran orbiters of a quarter century later.

• Mirak. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1932. Mirak - a 'Minimum Rocket' - was conceived by Rudolf Nebel to demonstrate the practicality of the liquid rocket, using the thrust chamber developed for the abandoned Oberth rocket. Mirak was realised not by Nebel, but talented engineer Riedel. It flew over 100 times in 1931-1932 and convinced the German Army of the practicality of the rocket as a weapon of war.

• Mohr Rocket. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1959. Engineer Ernst Mohr of Wuppertal, under the auspices of the German Rocket Society, developed a sounding rocket that was designed to reach altitudes of 50 km. A solid rocket motor with 7800 kgf would take the separable payload section to a speed of 1200 m/s. The booster had a diameter of 0.30 m, a length of 1.7 m, a total mass of 135 kg including 75 kg of solid propellant. The payload dart was 56 mm in diameter, 1.25 m long, and had a total mass of 15 kg.

• Oberth. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1929. Rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth agreed to build and fly a liquid propellant rocket to publicise the Fritz Lang film Frau im Mond. Oberth's design was too ambitious and the rocket was never completed in time for the film's premiere. But the engine developed for it would be further refined and used in the Mirak rocket, flown in 1931-1933.

• Opel. - rocketplane - Status: Cancelled 1930. Fritz von Opel sponsored early tests of rocket-powered automobiles and aircraft, popularizing the idea of rocket propulsion in Germany.

• Otrag. - low cost orbital launch vehicle - Status: Retired 1983. $200 million was spent from 1975-1987 by Lutz Kayer in a serious attempt to develop a low-cost satellite launcher using clusters of mass-produced pressure-fed liquid propellant modules. The project was finally squelched by the German government under pressure from the Soviet and French.

• Paris Gun. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1918. The Paris Gun of World War I could hurl a 120 kg shell with 7 kg of explosive to a range of 131 km and an altitude of 40 km.

• Poggensee. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1931.

• Project 621. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1966. Dornier project of the early 1960's for a recoverable, reusable sounding rocket. The liquid fueled rocket would use a paraglider for recovery, and could be reused up to six times. Drop tests were made of the paraglider system in Sardinia in 1965 but no flights of the rocket itself ever took place.

• Puellenberg. - sounding rocket - Status: Cancelled 1938. Albert Puellenberg began construction of a series of increasingly sophisticated rockets in 1928. After further private rocketry development was prohibited in 1934, Puellenberg continued his work in secret, culminating with the extremely sophisticated VR12 rocket in 1938. This was the end of the line and the last privately-developed rocket built in Germany until 1956.

• Rheinbote. - surface-to-surface missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. Director Klein and Doctor Vuellers at Rheinmetall in Leba had developed this unguided bombardment weapon. It was a four-stage powder rocket of minimum weight but a range of 120 km.

• Rheintochter. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II, but never completed development. The name translates as 'Rhine Maiden'.

• RWDT HTHL. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1990. Under the Future European Space Transportation Investigation Programme (FESTIP) of 1994-1999 French agencies and contractors designed a number of alternative reusable space launchers. This one was a Horizontal Takeoff / Horizontal Landing Two Stage to Orbit proposal with Mach 4 stage separation. Vehicle consisted of an unpowered 'reusable winged drop tank' and 2-engine expendable Ariane-5 upper stage.

• Saenger. - intercontinental boost-glide missile - Status: Study 1943. Saenger-Bredt antipodal bomber - sled launched, boosted to suborbital velocity, 'skips' off upper atmosphere to deliver bombload on target, recovery back at launch site. Fascinated Stalin, led to US Dynasoar project.

• Saenger I. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1969. Final version of the Saenger spaceplane, as conceived by Eugen Saenger during his lifetime. A rocket propelled sled would be used for horizontal launch of delta-winged, rocket-propelled first and second stages.

• Saenger II. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1985. Proposed two stage to orbit vehicle. Air-breathing hypersonic first stage and delta wing second stage. The German Hypersonics Programme and its Saenger II reference vehicle received most of the domestic funding for spaceplane development in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

• Schmetterling. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. German surface-to-air missile which completed development at the beginning of 1945. However it was never produced in appreciable quantities. The name translates as 'Butterfly'.

• Seliger. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1963. Berthold Seliger's firm designed a modular series of sounding rockets in 1961-1964. One, two, and three stage versions were built, reaching 52, 80, and 120 km altitude.

• Taifun. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. German surface-to-air barrage rocket, tested during World War II, but never operational. Copied in the USA as the Loki and in the USSR as the R-103. The name translates as 'Typhoon'.

• Tiling. - sounding rocket - Status: Retired 1931. Wing-recovered compressed powder rockets that set altitude records in Germany before being surpassed by liquid propellant designs.

• V-1. - short range cruise missile - Status: Retired 1945. First significant cruise missile. German engineer, Paul Schmidt, working from design of Lorin tube, developed and patented a ramjet engine later modified and used in the V-1 Flying Bomb.

• V-2. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Retired 1952. The V-2 ballistic missile (known to its designers as the A4) was the world's first operational liquid fuel rocket. It represented an enormous quantum leap in technology, financed by Nazi Germany in a huge development program that cost at least $ 2 billion in 1944 dollars. 6,084 V-2 missiles were built, 95% of them by 20,000 slave labourer in the last seven months of World War II at a unit price of $ 17,877. As many as 3,225 were launched in combat, primarily against Antwerp and London, and a further 1,000 to 1,750 were fired in tests and training. Despite the scale of this effort, the inaccurate missile did not change the course of the war and proved to be an enormous waste of resources. The British, Americans, and Russians launched a further 86 captured German V-2's in 1945-1952. Personnel and technology from the V-2 program formed the starting point for post-war rocketry development in America, Russia, and France.

• V-3. - short range ballistic missile - Status: Cancelled 1944. The V-3 Hochdruckpumpe (aka HDP, 'Fleissiges Lieschen'; 'Tausend Fussler') was a supergun designed by Saar Roechling during World War II. The 140 m long cannon was capable of delivering a 140 kg shell over a 165 km range. Construction began of a bunker for the cannons in September 1943 at Mimoyecques, France. The site was damaged by Allied bombing before it could be put into operation and was finally occupied by the British at the end of August 1944. Two short-length (45 m long) V-3's were built at Antwerp and Luxembourg in support of the Ardennes offensive in December 1944. These were found to be unreliable and only a few shots were fired without known effect.

• Valier. - test rocket - Status: Cancelled 1932. Max Valier, first with the backing of automobile magnate von Opel, then in competition with him, was instrumental in popularising rocketry in Germany in the 1920's. He dreamed of rocket-propelled transatlantic aircraft, but was killed in a rocket engine test in 1932.

• Valier-Oberth Moon Gun. - gun-launched orbital launch vehicle - Status: Design 1926. In 1926 rocket pioneers Max Valier and Hermann Oberth, members of the VfR (Society for Space Travel), amused themselves by designing a gun that would rectify Verne's technical mistakes and be actually capable of firing a projectile to the moon.

• Von Braun 1948. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. Von Braun's 1948 design for a reusable space launcher was remarkable in its tubby design. This was partly driven by the need for large parachute cannisters in the base of the first and second stages, which took up one half of the diameter, with the engines arranged around the periphery.

• Von Braun 1952. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. Von Braun's 1952 design for a reusable space launcher used the same mass and performance calculations done in 1948. However the large parachute cannisters were replaced by deployable drag skirts. This allowed the design to be substantially less squat and more elegant than the 1948 version -- but still fatter than the sleek paintings that appeared in print!

• Von Braun 1956. - winged orbital launch vehicle - Status: Study 1952. In 1956, for the book Exploration of Mars and the Disney television series, the 1952 design was significantly 'down-sized'. The first and second stages were simply reduced to 20% of their former size. A tiny expendable third stage replaced the manned glider. The manned glider itself became a seperate payload, that could be replaced by an 'all cargo' module.

• Wasserfall. - surface-to-air missile - Status: Retired 1944. Seminal German surface-to-air missile, tested during World War II, but never operational. The V-2-configuration rocket was copied in the USA as the Hermes and in the USSR as the R-101. In Russia it also became the starting point for the R-11/R-17 Scud surface-to-surface missile.

• X4. - air-to-air missile - Status: Cancelled 1945. German wire-guided air-to-air missile. 8 kg of pressure-fed Salbei + Tonka 250 propellants provided a thrust that varied from 140 kgf down to 30 kgf over the 17 second burn time. Final velocity was 230 m/s.

• Zucker Rocket. - test rocket - Status: Retired 1933. The Zucker Rocket was not an operational rocket at all, but a series of flashy-looking hulls powered by powder rockets like those used in fireworks. Zucker travelled through Germany in 1931-1933, displaying his rocket, selling tickets to launches, and then selling fraudulent postal covers carried aboard the 'flights'. The highest recorded altitude achieved in Germany was 15 m.

• A9. - Manned Rocketplane

• ABRIXAS. - Astronomy X-ray

• AEROS. - Earth Magnetosphere

• Ariane 5 EPS L10. - Tug

• Ariane 5 ESC B. - Tug

• Aussenstation. - Manned Space Station

• AZUR. - Earth Magnetosphere

• BIRD. - Earth Landsat

• BremSat. - Technology RV

• DIAL WIKA. - Technology

• Draeger Suit. - Manned Space Suits

• Equator-S. - Earth Magnetosphere

• GFZ-1. - Earth Geodetic

• He-112. - Manned Rocketplane

• Helios. - Solar

• Horus. - Manned Spaceplane

• Hytex. - Manned Rocketplane

• Inspector. - Manned Logistics

• Lofer Mystery Craft. - Manned Spaceplane

• Me-163. - Manned Rocketplane

• Mirka. - Technology RV

• ROSAT. - Astronomy X-ray

• Saenger I. - Manned Spaceplane

• Safir. - Communications Store-dump

• SAR-Lupe. - Surveillance Military Radarsat

• TerraSAR-X. - Surveillance Radarsat

• Tubsat. - Technology Communications

• Von Braun Rocketplane. - Manned Rocketplane

• Amelkina. - Dr Galina Vasilyevna Amelkina Russian Physician Cosmonaut. Born 22 May 1954.

• Axster. - Herbert Felix Axster Rocket engineer. Born 3 November 1899. Died 25 May 1991.

• Bachem. - Dipl-Ing Erich Bachem German Engineer. Born 1906. Died 1960.

• Ball. - Erich K A Ball Rocket engineer. Born 12 September 1901. Died 1990.

• Bauschinger. - Oscar Bauschinger Rocket engineer. Born 9 August 1911. Died 27 December 1989.

• Beduerftig. - Hermann F Beduerftig Rocket engineer. Born 17 May 1903. Died 1973.

• Beichel. - Rudi Beichel Rocket engineer. Born 19 August 1913. Died 25 October 1999.

• Beier. - Anton Beier Rocket engineer. Born 9 September 1906. Died 12 September 1960.

• Bredt. - Irene Bredt Engineer. Born 1911. Died 1983.

• Bringer. - Karl-Heinz Bringer German Engineer. Born 16 June 1908. Died 2 January 1999.

• Dahm. - Werner Karl Dahm Rocket engineer. Born 16 February 1917. Died 17 January 2008.

• Dannenberg. - Konrad Dannenberg Engineer. Born 5 August 1912.

• De Beek. - Gerd Wilhelm De Beek Rocket engineer. Born 13 July 1904. Died 2 December 1989.

• Debus. - Kurt Heinrich Debus American Manager. Born 29 November 1908. Died 4 October 1983.

• Deppe. - Hans Deppe Rocket engineer.

• Dornberger. - Gen Dr.-Ing E h Walter Robert Dornberger American Manager. Born 1895. Died 1980.

• Drawe. - Gerhardt Drawe Rocket engineer. Born 5 November 1910. Died 15 June 1996.

• Duerr. - Friedrich Duerr Rocket engineer. Born 26 January 1909. Died 20 December 2000.

• Ehricke. - Krafft Arnold Ehricke American Engineer. Born 24 March 1917. Died December 1984.

• Eisenhardt. - Otto Karl Eisenhardt Rocket engineer. Born 7 June 1905. Died 10 December 1986.

• Erdmann. - Siegfried Erdmann Rocket engineer. Born 1916. Died 2002.

• Ewald. - Dr Reinhold Ewald German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 18 December 1956. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 19.69 days.

• Favier. - Dr Jean-Jacques Favier French Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 13 April 1949. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 16.91 days.

• Fichtner. - Hans Joachim Oskar Fichtner Rocket engineer. Born 8 September 1917.

• Finzel. - Alfred Johannes Finzel Rocket engineer. Born 25 July 1916. Died 1 December 1984.

• Flade. - Klaus-Dietrich Flade German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 23 August 1952. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.91 days.

• Fleischer. - Karl-Otto Fleischer Rocket engineer. Died Deceas.

• Fuhrmann. - Herbert Walter Fuhrmann Rocket engineer. Born 27 April 1912. Died Before 2005.

• Geissler. - Ernst Geissler Rocket engineer. Born 3 August 1915. Died 3 June 1989.

• Gengelbach. - Werner Kurt Gengelbach Rocket engineer. Born 29 September 1912.

• Gerhardt Bernhard. - Bernhard Gerhardt American Engineer. Born 17 December 1893.

• Gruene. - Hans Gruene Rocket engineer. Born 24 May 1910. Died 23 October 1980.

• Hackh. - Rudolf Hackh German Rocket engineer. Born 24 August 1900. Died 12 September 1950.

• Hager. - Karl Franz Hager Rocket engineer. Born 25 March 1903. Died Deceas.

• Haukohl. - Guenther Haukohl Rocket engineer. Born 27 March 1913. Died 9 December 2002.

• Helm. - Bruno Helm Rocket engineer. Born 31 December 1909. Died 2 December 1987.

• Hermann Rudolf. - Rudolf Hermann Professor. Born 1904. Died 1991.

• Heusinger. - Bruno Heusinger Rocket engineer. Born 27 May 1912. Died 1 April 1973.

• Hirschler. - Otto Heinrich Hirschler Rocket engineer. Born 14 December 1913. Died 2 February 2001.

• Hoberg. - Otto August Hoberg Rocket engineer. Born 5 September 1912. Died 3 February 1991.

• Hohmann. - Walter Hohmann German Spaceflight theoretician. Born 18 March 1880. Died 11 March 1945.

• Holderer. - Oskar F Holderer Rocket engineer. Born 4 November 1919.

• Holker. - Rudolf Franz Maria Holker Rocket engineer.

• Horn. - Helmut Horn Rocket engineer. Born 24 June 1912. Died 1994.

• Hosenthien. - Hans Henning Hosenthien Rocket engineer. Born 26 May 1905. Died 3 July 1996.

• Jacobi. - Walter Jacobi Rocket engineer. Born 13 January 1918.

• Jaehn. - Sigmund Werner Paul Jaehn German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 13 February 1937. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.87 days.

• Kaschig. - Erich Kaschig Rocket engineer. Born 11 February 1906. Died 9 September 1988.

• Kayser. - Lutz T Kayser German Rocket engineer. Born 31 March 1939.

• Kepler. - Johannes Kepler German Scientist. Born 27 December 1571. Died 15 November 1630.

• Kissinger. - Henry A Kissinger American Manager. Born 1923.

• Klaus. - Ernst E Klaus Rocket engineer. Born 9 May 1914. Died 1986.

• Klein Johann. - Johann Klein Rocket engineer. Born 10 March 1915.

• Koelle. - Prof. Dr-Ing Heinz-Hermann Koelle American Rocket engineer. Born 1925.

• Koellner. - Eberhard Koellner German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 29 September 1939.

• Kuers. - Werner Kuers Rocket engineer. Born 18 April 1907. Died 14 May 1983.

• Kurzweg. - Hermann H Kurzweg American Engineer. Born 1 January 1908. Died 29 June 2000.

• Lange Hermann. - Hermann E Lange Rocket engineer. Born 23 October 1906. Died 3 July 1997.

• Leust. - Reimar Leust German Manager. Born 1923.

• Ley. - Willy Ley American Writer. Born 2 October 1906. Died 24 May 1969.

• Lindenmayer. - Hans Josef Lindenmayer Rocket engineer. Born 19 October 1912.

• Luehrsen. - Hannes Luehrsen Architect. Born 13 March 1907. Died January 1986.

• Mark. - Hans Mark American Manager. Born 1929.

• Merbold. - Dr Ulf Dietrich Merbold German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 20 June 1941. Number of Flights: 3.00. Total Time: 49.90 days.

• Merk Ernst. - Ernst Helmut Merk Rocket engineer. Born 1 April 1911. Died Deceas.

• Messerschmid. - Dr Ernst Willi Messerschmid German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 1 May 1945. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.03 days.

• Michel Josef. - Josef Martin Michel Rocket engineer. Born 19 October 3797. Died 29 June 1997.

• Minning. - Rudolf Friederich Franz Minning Rocket engineer. Born 8 May 1914. Died 11 September 1998.

• Morgenstern. - Oskar Morgenstern American Manager. Born 24 January 1902. Died 1 July 1977.

• Mueller Fritz. - Fritz Mueller Engineer. Born 27 October 1907. Died 15 May 2001.

• Nebel. - Rudolf Nebel German Engineer. Born 21 March 1894. Died 18 September 1978.

• Nowak Max. - Max Ernst Nowak Rocket engineer. Born 28 September 1908. Died 24 July 1998.

• Opel. - Fritz von Opel German Manager. Born 4 May 1899. Died 8 April 1971.

• Patt. - Kurt Paul Erich Patt Rocket engineer. Born 18 March 1913. Died 1 April 1969.

• Paul. - Hans Paul Rocket engineer. Born 15 April 1909. Died 5 May 1980.

• Puellenberg. - Albert Puellenberg German Engineer. Born 3 July 1913.

• Rees. - Eberhard Friedrich Michael Rees American Manager. Born 28 April 1908. Died 2 April 1998.

• Reiter. - Thomas Arthur Reiter German Engineer Cosmonaut. Born 23 May 1958. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 350.23 days.

• Riedel Klaus. - Klaus Erhardt Riedel ("Riedel II") German Engineer. Born 1907. Died 9 August 1944.

• Riedel Walter. - Walter J H "Papa" Riedel ("Riedel I") German Engineer. Born 1902. Died 1968.

• Roth. - Ludwig Roth Engineer. Born 10 June 1909. Died Novemb.

• Schaper. - Otto Friedrich Schaper Rocket engineer. Born 26 October 1892. Died 1 November 1967.

• Schilling. - Martin Schilling Rocket engineer. Born 1 October 1911. Died April .

• Schlegel. - Hans Wilhelm Schlegel German Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 3 August 1951. Number of Flights: 2.00. Total Time: 22.75 days.

• Schlidt. - Rudolf Karl Hans Schlidt Rocket engineer. Born 15 July 1914.

• Schlitt. - Helmut Wilhelm Emil Schlitt Rocket engineer. Born 15 March 1912. Died Deceas.

• Schmidt. - Helmut Heinrich Schmidt Rocket engineer.

• Schnarowski. - Heinz Ludwig Schnarowski Rocket engineer. Born 3 June 1910. Died 1 January 2005.

• Schriever. - Bernard A Schriever American Manager. Born 14 September 1910. Died 20 June 2005.

• Schuler. - Albert E Schuler Rocket engineer. Born 16 May 1915. Died 10 July 1998.

• Simon. - Dr George Warren Simon American Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 22 April 1934.

• Staats. - Friedrich Staats German Engineer. Born 27 October 1913. Died 30 May 2002.

• Stuhlinger. - Ernst Stuhlinger American Engineer. Born 19 December 1913. Died 25 May 2008.

• Thiele. - Gerhard Julius Paul Thiele German Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 2 September 1953. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 11.24 days.

• Thorne. - Steven Douglas Thorne American Mission Specialist Astronaut. Born 11 February 1953. Died 24 May 1986.

• Urbanski. - Arthur P Urbanski Engineer. Born 24 January 1900. Died 1 January 1977.

• Utsch. - Albert Utsch American Engineer. Born 2 March 1902. Died 1 October 1970.

• Vandersee. - Fritz Vandersee Rocket engineer. Born 22 June 1918. Died 1 March 1975.

• Von Braun. - Wernher Von Braun American Engineer. Born 23 March 1912. Died 16 June 1977.

• Von Braun Magnus. - Freiherr Magnus von Braun Rocket engineer. Born 10 May 1919. Died 21 June 2003.

• Walpot. - Heike Walpot German Pilot Cosmonaut. Born 19 June 1960.

• Walter. - Dr Ulrich Hans Walter German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Born 9 February 1954. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 9.99 days.

• Wiesemann. - Walter Fritz Wiesemann Rocket technician. Born 30 August 1920. Died 11 July 2000.

• Winkler. - Johannes Winkler German Engineer. Born 29 May 1897. Died 27 December 1947.

• Woerdemann. - Hugo H Woerdemann Engineer. Born 21 February 1915. Died 24 June 1999.

• Zolke. - Helmut Max Arthur Zolke Rocket engineer. Born 9 May 1915.

• Zucker. - Gerhard Zucker German Engineer. Born 1900. Died 1985.

• Furrer. - Dr Reinhard Alfred Furrer German Payload Specialist Astronaut. Birth Country: Austria. Born 25 November 1940. Died 19 September 1995. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.03 days.

• Oberth. - Hermann Julius Oberth German Scientist. Birth Country: Romania. Born 25 June 1894. Died 1989.

• Saenger. - Eugen Albert Saenger German Engineer. Birth Country: Czech Republic. Born 22 September 1905. Died 10 February 1964.

• Seliger. - Berthold Seliger German Engineer. Birth Country: Czech Republic. Born 1928.

• Valier. - Max Valier German Engineer. Birth Country: Italy. Born 9 February 1895. Died 17 May 1930.

1572 November 11 -

• Tycho Brahe's observes Supernova 1572 Level: 1.

• Supernova 1604 (Kepler's Nova) Level: 1.

• Wilhelm Olbers' Discovery of Asteroid 2 Pallas Level: 1.

• Karl Harding's Discovery of Asteroid 3 Juno Level: 1.

• Wilhelm Olbers' Discovery of Asteroid 4 Vesta Level: 1.

• Johann Galle's Discovery of Neptune Level: 1.

• Wernher von Braun born in in Wirsitz, Posen. Von Braun was the second of three sons born to Baron Magnus von Braun and Baroness Emmy von Quistorp. Level: 1.

• Paris Gun begins bombardment of Paris Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). The rail-mounted weapon could hurl a 120 kg shell with 7 kg of explosive to a range of 131 km. During the 170 second trajectory the shell reached a maximum altitude at the edge of space - 40 km. This was the highest altitude attained by a man-made object until the first successful V-2 flight. From March through August of 1918, three of the guns shot 351 shells at Paris from the woods of Crepy, killing 256 and wounding 620. As a military weapon the gun was a failure - the payload was minuscule, the barrel needed replacement after 65 shots, and the accuracy was only good enough for city-sized targets. But as a psychological tool it was remembered when the V-1, V-2 and V-3 weapons were being developed two decades later. Level: 1.

• Treaty loophole permits German rocket development. Signing of Treaty of Versailles disarmed Germany of a military air force but did not include rockets as potential weapons, thus leaving Germany free under international law to develop them. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Oberth proposes circumlunar flight In a discussion of the uses of an interplanetary rocket, Hermann Oberth proposed circumlunar flight to explore the hidden face of the moon and discussed the possibility of storing cryogenic fuels in space. A spacecraft could rendezvous and dock in earth orbit with a fuel capsule. When the spacecraft reached the vicinity of a planet, it would detach itself from the capsule and descend to the surface. On departure, the spacecraft would ascend and reconnect to its fuel supply for the return trip. References: 16. Level: 1.

• Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume published. Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume (The Rocket Into Interpanetary Space) by Hermann Oberth was published in Germany, and was the genesis for considerable discussion of rocket propulsion. The book would have a huge and life-changing impact on ten year old Wernher Von Braun. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Valier-Oberth Moon Gun In the 1920's members of the VfR (Society for Space Travel) amused themselves by redesigning Verne's moon gun. In 1926 rocket pioneers Max Valier and Hermann Oberth designed a gun that would rectify Verne's technical mistakes and be actually capable of firing a projectile to the moon. Level: 1.

• VfR established. Johannes Winkler forms the first society for space travel in Breslau. The Society for Space Travel (Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt), is better known by its abbreviation 'VfR'. From the three people that attended the first meeting, it would grow to 500 members within the year, including most of the European space pioneers - Oberth, Hohmann, von Hoefft, von Pirquet, Rynin, and Esnault-Petrie. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Von Pirquet Moon Gun Further improvements to the Valier-Oberth gun were suggested by Willy Ley and Baron Guido von Pirquet of Vienna. To achieve the necessary muzzle velocity, it would be necessary to construct the gun with angled lateral chambers. These design concepts would be put to military use in the V-3 Hochdruckpumpe cannon of World War II. Level: 1.

• First rocket car Max Valier campaigned to get automobile magnate Fritz von Opel interested in rocket-powered automobiles. Valier proposed to use different combinations of compressed black powder rockets manufactured by Friedrich Wilhelm Sander of Wesermuende. Sander's rockets were 80 cm long, 12.5 cm in diameter, and could came in two versions. The centre-bore rockets provided 180 kgf for 3 seconds, while the end-burners provided 20 kgf for 30 seconds. Valier proposed to use combinations of these motors to first boost an automobile to high speed with the high-thrust rockets, then use low-thrust units to maintain velocity. This had no practical application but would demonstrate the potential of rockets to the German public, at the same time giving Opel publicity. The first secret test, at Ruesselsheim, used a one high thrust and one low thrust motor in a small stock Opel. The results were unimpressive - the vehicle went only 140 m in 35 seconds. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak After two tests the day before, which showed that a good fraction of Brander's rockets would either fail to ignite or explode, Valier made the first official rocket car run for the press. Of 12 rockets attached to the 'Rak' vehicle (a motor car stripped of engine and brakes), five failed to function, but the vehicle reached 110 kph and the press was mightily impressed. Opel received an unexpected amount of free publicity and funded Valier in further rocket car development. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak II Fritz von Opel personally drives rocket-car Opel Rak II, equipped with 24 Brander powder rockets, to 200 kph at Berlin. The same day Oberth is debating the German scientific establishment, trying to overturn their belief that space flight using liquid rockets is theoretically impossible. The VfR regard Valier's experiments with Opel as publicity stunts, threatening the credibility of their society. References: 47. Level: 1.

• First manned rocket-powered aircraft flight. Crew: Stamer. A rocket-boosted glider is flown by Friedrich Stamer from the Rhoen Mountains in Western Germany. The development was funded by Opel, the canard-layout glider designed by Hans Lippisch, and the powder rockets developed by Sander. As in the Opel ground vehicles, a boost rocket (360 kgf for 3 seconds) was to accelerate the glider down the launch ramp. A sustainer rocket (20 kgf for 30 seconds) would keep the aircraft in flight. It was hoped to develop a method of launching gliders that would allow the pilot to get airborne without assistance - that did not require a tow aircraft or the eight-man crew needed to pull back the rubber band on existing rail launchers. Tests with smaller motors in models showed the high-thrust motors were too powerful, so the full-scale tests used a standard rubber-band rail launcher with only the low thrust motors installed. After two attempted flights, Stamer finally made a successful flight, firing two 20 kgf motors one after the other. The glider flew about 1.5 km in 70 seconds. On the second flight the first motor exploded, setting the aircraft on fire. Stamer landed successfully but further attempts were abandoned. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak III The third Opel rocket-car is mounted on railroad tracks near Celle. The first run, with 10 rockets, reached 290 kph. A second run, with 24 rockets, jumped the tracks and demolished the vehicle. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Opel Rak IV The fourth Opel rocket-car is destroyed when one motor explodes, setting off all off the other motors simultaneously. The car jumps off the tracks at the start. Rail authorities prohibit further experiments and Opel Rak V never runs. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Noordung orbiting space observatory Spacecraft: Noordung. Hermann Noordung (pseudonym for Capt. Potocnik of the Austrian Imperial Army) expanded the ideas of Hermann Oberth on space flight in a detailed description of an orbiting space observatory. The problems of weightlessness, space communications, maintaining a livable environment for the crew, and extravehicular activity were considered. Among the uses of such an observatory were chemical and physical experiments in a vacuum, telescopes of great size and efficiency, detailed mapping of the earth's surface, weather observation, surveillance of shipping routes, and military reconnaissance. References: 16. Level: 1.

• First JATO takeoff. Use of a battery of solid-propellant rockets on Junkers-33 seaplane, the first recorded jet-assisted take-off of an airplane, made in tests near Dessau, Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Opel Sander Rak 1 flies. Crew: Opel. Opel sponsored resumption of tests of rocket-boosted gliders near Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. These involved a design by Lippisch, boosted by 16 powder rockets of 23 kgf each. With Opel at the controls, the glider successfully launched itself from a 20-m long rail launcher, and he flew the aircraft for ten minutes. However the landing went badly - the design had a landing speed of 160 kph, and with a total weight of 270 kg, a high wing loading. Opel survived but the glider had to be written off. This was Opel's last involvement with rocketry. General Motors, the majority owner of the Opel company, prohibited further rocketry work after the stock market crash. Fritz von Opel left the country and moved to Switzerland. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Frau im Mond (The Girl in the Moon) premieres in Berlin. The film, directed by Fritz Lang, with Hermann Oberth as technical consultant, provided a realistic portrayal of the rollout and launch of a liquid-propellant booster sending a manned expedition to the moon. Lang provided Oberth with funds to build and launch a liquid-propellant rocket to publicise the film. Oberth's rocket, using a conical combustion chamber to mix liquid oxygen and gasoline, was 1.8 m tall and was to have been launched to an altitude of 64 km over the Baltic Sea from Greifswalder Oie. One of the assistants hired by Oberth to fabricate the rocket was Rudolph Nebel, a World War I fighter pilot with (unfortunately) little actual engineering experience. Oberth also had no practical engineering or organizational ability, and was unable to produce the liquid rocket in the four months allotted. He then turned to an 11-m tall hybrid rocket that was to burn a to-be-determined carbon compound with liquid oxygen. This also proved impossible, and Oberth simply gave up and left town - returning, however, for the film's premiere. Ufa studios took ownership of the unfinished rockets. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR regroups Winkler had resigned as president. Oberth is back in Berlin, and a meeting is held, with Nebel, Wurm, Oberth, Klaus Riedel, Winkler, and Willy Ley in attendance. It was decided to try and get the Oberth rocket materials back from Ufa and press on to demonstrate flight of a liquid propellant rocket. For this purpose the Oberth rocket was much too ambitious and probably wouldn't work anyway. Nebel proposes building a new 'Minimum Rakete' or 'Mirak' to demonstrate that it could be done. Work begins to obtain funds to ground test and perfect Oberth's 'Kegelduese' conical rocket motor. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR bankrupt. Nebel, general secretary of the VfR, files bankruptcy papers with the German courts. However he does not inform any of the other members of his actions. The fact is not known until 1933. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR evening in Berlin The VfR presents itself to the scientific community in Berlin. Winkler gives a lecture at the auditorium of the Central Post Office, and the Oberth rocket, Kegelduese, and other articles are displayed. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Valier rocket car Valier has arranged for Dr Weyland to develop a new, powerful liquid rocket engine burning liquid oxygen and gasoline. The car made its first slow run this day, but combustion of the motor was poor and acceleration of the vehicle low. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Valier killed in rocket engine explosion While working in Dr Weyland's laboratory on Saturday, the combustion chamber explodes, and a metal splinters pierces Valier's aorta, killing him immediately. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR demonstrates rocket motor to German government officials The VfR fires its 'Kegelduese' liquid oxygen and gasoline-fueled rocket motor in a demonstration for the Director of the Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt in an attempt to secure financial support. Nebel had arranged the demonstration and runs the Kegelduese for 90 seconds. It generates 7 kgf and consumes 6 kg of liquid oxygen and 1 kg of gasoline in that time (specific impulse 90 seconds). Participating are Oberth, Nebel, Riedel, Ley, and Von Braun. Nebel's Mirak is not yet ready to test. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak experiments Nebel and Riedel conduct a series of tests of the Mirak rocket at the farm of Riedel's grandparents near Bernstadt, Saxony. They slowly perfect the motor, finally achieving significant net thrust by September, when the motor explodes, ending the test series. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Raketenflugplatz Berlin Nebel signs the $4/year lease for the worlds first 'Rocket Port', an abandoned German army munitions storage area on 10 square kilometres on Tegeler Weg in the Berlin northern suburb of Reinickendorf. The numerous bunkers are ideal for rocket motor tests. References: 47, 394. Level: 1.

• Kummersdorf selected for missile development. German Army Ordnance Office, after reviewing work of Goddard and others, decided to establish rocket program and to equip artillery proving ground at Kummersdorf to develop military missiles. The German Army issues the first budget for rocket development - 5,000 Reichsmarks. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Poggensee instrumented rocket reaches 450 m. Apogee: 0.45 km (0.28 mi). Karl Poggensee launched a powder rocket at a field near Berlin. Although the rocket technology did not represent a forward step, the rocket was was instrumented with a barometer, a camera, and a velocity measurement device. The rocket also set an altitude mark that Winkler, Nebel, and the other German liquid rocketeers had to beat in order to prove the superiority of the liquid fuel rocket. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Winkler HW-1 rocket - first liquid-fuel rocket in Europe. Apogee: 0.0030 km (0.0019 mi). Funded by a Mr Hueckel, Winkler flies the first European liquid propellant rocket at Dessau, Germany. It is 60 cm high, weighs 5 kg, including 1.7 kg of liquid oxygen and methane propellants. The rocket consists of three tanks - one for the fuel, one for the oxygen, and one for the nitrogen gas that pressure-feeds the motor. The motor is a simple 18-inch long cylinder, housed at the centre of the prismatic rocket. The rocket reaches only 3 m in the first test due to a malfunction. References: 47. Level: 1.

• First liquid rocket hardware developed for the Germany Army. Walter Riedel, and Arthur Riedel, at the Heylandt Company, built the first 20 kgf liquid propellant engine for the Heereswaffenamt. It featured a double-walled cylindrical combustion chamber, and was used to test different propellant combinations. References: 693. Level: 1.

• HW-1 reaches 500 m. Apogee: 0.50 km (0.31 mi). Winkler's HW-1 rocket reached 500 m over Dessau, Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Second Mirak explodes Nebel and the other designers realise that using liquid oxygen to cool the combustion chamber simply would not work - it turned to gas, and the excessive pressure eventually burst the oxygen tank. They turn to a water-cooled combustion chamber. The end result was an aluminium pressure-fed engine that weighed 85 g but produced 32 kgf while burning 160 g of liquid oxygen and gasoline per second - a specific impulse of 200 seconds. The new design proves reliable and is demonstrated to visitors from the American Rocket Society in April 1931. References: 47. Level: 1.

• VfR/AIS meeting. Raktenflugplatz in Germany was visited by Mr. and Mrs. G. Edward Pendray as official representatives of the American Interplanetary Society, who upon their return organized the experimental program of the society. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Tiling rocket Apogee: 0.80 km (0.50 mi). Reinhold Tiling, financed by Baron von Ledebour, publicly demonstrates his compressed black powder rocket design at Osnabrueck. The 1.8 m long rocket uses flip-out wings for recovery, and reach altitudes of 800 m. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Heyland motor Heyland completes development testing of the rocket motor intended for Valier's rocket car. It weighs 18 kg and is capable of producing 160 kgf for several minutes. Although powerful, the specific impulse is thought to be fairly low. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor Apogee: 0.0020 km (0.0012 mi). Riedel improvises a rocket, using the thrust chamber developed for the Mirak, fed by two long tanks containing liquid oxygen and gasoline, which would form guiding sticks for the forward-mounted engine. The lashed-together rocket rises to 20 m on its first 'static' test. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor I rocket reaches 60 m. Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). First official test flight of the Mirak (Minimum Rakete) II. A flight-weight version of Riedel's 'flying test stand' takes off into a looping trajectory, sending the VfR experimenters running for cover, but reaching 60 m altitude in the process. Attending were Wernher Von Braun, Klaus Riedel und Kurt Heinisch (Rudolf Nebel, the chief engineer, was in Kiel at the time). References: 693. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 2 Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). The rocket reaches 60 m before heading off horizontally over the Raketenflugplatz, ending up in a tree outside the perimeter, 600 m from the launch point. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 3 Apogee: 0.18 km (0.11 mi). This is the first Repulsor equipped with a recovery parachute. It reaches 180 m, but then the parachute deploys early, and it falls into the same clump of trees as Repulsor 2, 600 m from the launch point. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak II rocket reaches height of 500 m Apogee: 0.50 km (0.31 mi). VfR successfully fired an improved Mirak (Minimum Rakete) II rocket to height of 500 m. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Mirak II / Repulsor 4 Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). The perfected Repulsor has the propellant tanks close together at the centreline, to form a guide stick in the manner of Congreve's war rockets. It reaches an altitude of 1000 m, and the parachute recovery system functioned perfectly at apogee. Subsequent such 'one stick' Repulsors' will reach 1500 m altitude and 3000 m range - in fact, they are normally launched only partially-fuelled to prevent them landing outside the perimeter of the Raketenflugplatz. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Raketenflugplatz featured in newsreel Apogee: 1.50 km (0.90 mi). After one year of operation of the worlds first 'rocket port', the Ufa weekly newsreel carries an extensive film report on the VfR's experiments. By then 270 engine test runs had been completed, as well as 87 test flights of Repulsors. However the filmmakers also capture an errant rocket leaking gasoline onto a shack owned by the police, which burns down. This leads to further restrictions on VfR activities at the site. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Mirak III rocket completed. Apogee: 4.00 km (2.40 mi). It would reach an altitude of 4000 m in subsequent tests. References: 394. Level: 1.

• V-1 engine concept patented. German engineer, Paul Schmidt, working from design of Lorin tube, developed and patented a ramjet engine later modified and used in the V-1 Flying Bomb. The concept of the world's first jet-powered cruise missile was originated by Flight Staff Engineer Bree. The pulse engine was based on a French patent dating to the 1890's. The engine, which operated by creating 500 fuel-air explosions per minute, was designed for a specific operational altitude. The guidance system consisted of propellor in the nose. When this had turned a preset number of times (corresponding to the desired range to the target), the counter pushed the missile's rudder hard over, resulting on a dive to the ground. A V-1 could be produced for one tenth of the cost of a V-2. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Dornberger put in charge of Kummersdorf. The German Army Ordnance Office formalized its rocket develoment program by placing Captain-Doctor Walter Dornberger in charge of Research Station West at Kummersdorf. References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• Nebel demonstrates VfR liquid rocket to the German Army. Apogee: 0.0700 km (0.0435 mi). Nebel contacted the German Army and proposed the use of liquid fuel rockets as war missiles. He arranged for Army representatives to observe a demonstration launch at Kummersdorf. Riedel and Von Braun prepare the rocket, which was 3.5 m long and 10 cm in diameter, had a gross lift-off mass of 20 kg, an empty mass of 10 kg, and a thrust of 60 kgf. The new design featured the engine forward of the stack, followed by the liquid oxygen tank, then the alcohol tank, then the manometers and other elements of propellant pressurisation. The new-design engine was developed by Walter Riedel and Arthur Rudolph at the Heylandt Company. The rocket reached an altitude of 20 to 70 m before veering horizontally into a forest. An exhaust velocity of 2000 m/s was expected, but only 1700 m/s was demonstrated.. The Army is seemingly unimpressed. However a month later they hire Von Braun, who drops out of sight. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Von Braun joins German Army missile program. Wernher von Braun joined the German Army Ordnance Office rocket program at Kummersdorf. He is working on a 300 kgf thrust liquid propellant engine, which has been tested with an exhaust velocity of 1700 m/s, but it is believed can be tuned up to as much as 1900 m/s. This is to power the A1 rocket, which is to have the same tractor configuration as the 20 kg test rocket launched in August 1932. The main issue is how to solve the problem of keeping the rocket stabilised in flight, as the August test demonstrated. The A1 is to be 1.4 m long x 30 cm in diameter, a 150 kg gross takeoff weight, and 40 kg of propellant., allowing a 16.5 second burn time. References: 17. Level: 1.

• HW-2 Apogee: 0.0030 km (0.0019 mi). Following an aborted attempt on 29 September, Winkler launches his HW-2 rocket from Pillau on the Baltic. He had worked for months at the Raketenflugplatz developing the new device. However on launch day an explosive propellant mix developed in the internal compartments of the rocket, and after igniting and rising only 3 m, it was blown to smithereens. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Private rocket development in Germany winds down As the influence of Nazism in German Society increases, the VfR disintegrates in political disputes and withdrawal of funding by its wealthiest backers. In this period it occurs to Riedel that alcohol may prove a better fuel than gasoline - primarily because as a fuel it needs much less of the expensive and difficult-to-handle cryogenic liquid oxygen. Experiments determine that 60% alcohol to water is the best fuel mixture, and for the first time use the fuel to cool the combustion chamber before leading it into the chamber - regenerative cooling. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg Project Mengering, an engineer working for the city of Magdeburg, is entranced by the theories of Peter Bender, who proposes that the people of the earth are in fact living on the inside surface of a hollow sphere. He believes that this can be proven. A rocket fired vertically from Magdeburg should impact south of New Zealand. Mengering convinces the city authorities to fund experiments leading to this objective. Nebel, now a member of the Nazi Party, obtains a contract of 25,000 Marks for the first step. He will build a rocket that will carry a man to an altitude of one kilometre, from where the pilot will bail out and return to earth by parachute. The rocket is to be fired on 11 June 1933 in a huge event publicizing the city. The Pilot Rocket would be in the form of the VfR Repulsors, with the passenger in a bullet-shaped fairing over the engine compartment, and the propellants being stored in two long cylindrical tanks trailing the engine. It was to be 7.6 m tall and powered by an engine of 600 kgf. A prototype was to be built first, 4.6 m tall, powered by a 200 kgf motor. This would not be capable of carrying a pilot, but would have a parachute for recovery. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Rocket test stand explosion at Kummersdorf. No one was injured and more stringent safety precautions were taken in the future. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg Project tests A test stand is completed for ground test of rocket engines of up to 1000 kgf. Tests of the 200 kgf motor begin on 22 March. Motors explode on 25 March and 3 April, but by the end of April, 20 test runs have been conducted and the motor is considered reliable enough for flight test (despite several burn-throughs of the throat). References: 47. Level: 1.

• Zucker rocket launched at Cuxhaven Apogee: 0.0150 km (0.0093 mi). Zucker's amazing 'operational rocket'. was supposedly a recoverable cruise missile, 5 m long, with a thrust of 360 kg and a takeoff mass of 200 kg. In actuality the missile was only an enormous hull equipped with eight powder rockets. Zucker showed up in Cuxhaven on the German North Sea coast in the winter of 1933, ready for a long-range demonstration (15 km, from the coast to Neuhaven Island). After being stuck in a ditch while being taken out to the field for a February launch attempt, the great day finally came in April 1933. A huge crowd of local folk and officials gathered to witness the event. After staggering 15 m into the air, the torpedo came crashing down. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg launch attempt First attempt to launch the subscale prototype of the Magdeburg Pilot Rocket. A launch stand 9 m tall is erected in the countryside near Magdeburg. However the rocket develops insufficient thrust to clear the tower. Other attempts on 10 and 11 June are also unsuccessful, due to leaky valves and other quality problems. The rocket is returned to the shop for rework. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Magdeburg launch Apogee: 0.0100 km (0.0062 mi). The 200 kgf prototype rocket is finally launched. However it catches on one of the rails in the launch tower and is flung horizontally as it clears the tower. It flies 300 m horizontally over the pastures, then slides along the ground for 10 m more. It is relatively intact, but the Magdeburg city officials are not interested in funding further attempts. Nebel receives only 3200 Marks for his work. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). The Magdeburg prototype rocket is reworked into a four-stick design and flown from Lindwerder Island at Tegeler Lake near Berlin. It reaches 1000 m, loops a few times, then thrusts straight toward the earth. The parachute deploys at the last moment and the rocket splashes down in the lake 100 m from the launch stand. It is recovered. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0060 km (0.0037 mi). After an aborted launch, the rocket does clear the tower but on oxidiser valve fails to open. The rocket reaches only 60 m but splashes down in the lake and is recovered. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0010 km (0.0006 mi). After objections by the owner of the previous launch location, tests are moved to Schwielow Lake, with launch from the stand erected on a motor boat. The rocket explodes soon after lift-off. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.0020 km (0.0012 mi). Second attempt from Schwielow Lake. The rocket goes horizontal and hits the water in the lake's steamboat channel. It cannot be recovered. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 2.00 km (1.20 mi). Third launch from Schwielow Lake. Rocket flies out of sight and is not found. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Fourth launch from Schwielow Lake. This employs a new design with two longer tanks in place of four shorter propellant tanks. Results 'poor'. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Nebel rocket Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Final launch from Schwielow Lake using the new design. Results again 'poor'. References: 47. Level: 1.

• End of Raketenflugplatz Nebel is presented with a water bill of 1600 Marks for 1930-1933. He and the VfR are unable to pay, so the government cancels the lease and takes the property back. Klaus Riedel manages to arrange employment for himself and several of the VfR technicians with Siemens, which also agrees to allow them to store the Raketenflugplatz rockets and technical materials in a company warehouse. After Riedel and the others are recruited by the Army and leave for Peenemuende, Nebel allegedly sells of these materials. In any case they disappear. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Death of Tiling In his propellant processing room, where he uses his proprietary process to compress black powder into solid rocket propellant, a fire breaks out. Tiling, and his assistant Angelika Buddenboehmer, are killed. Earlier he had demonstrated his rockets to a small crowd at Tempelhof Airfield in Berlin, but the rest of the event was called off by police after one of his first shots went into the grandstands References: 47. Level: 1.

• Saenger begins rocket engine tests. Eugen Saenger begins a series of rocket engine tests in Vienna. He methodically explores various propellant combinations and additives through the end of 1934. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Rakatenflugtechnik published. Spacecraft: Dynasoar. Eugen Sänger of Germany published his classic Rakatenflugtechnic, which dealt with rocket motor design and high-speed flight in the atmosphere. References: 17. Level: 1.

• The VfR rocket team unravels. Willy Ley decides to leave for America in the face of increased Nazi domination of German society. Most of the VfR experimenters end up at Peenemuende, working on development of the V-2. Some, such as Nebel, remain private citizens. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Liquid rocket explosion kills three. Dr Kurt Wahmke and two technicians were testing a 90% H2O2/Alcohol combination at Kummersdorf when the chamber exploded, killing them. These were the first and only deaths of technicians in the history of German rocket development. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun receives doctorate. His public doctoral thesis, "About Combustion Tests," was completed in very little time (one source states that he joined the SS at this time). The actual thesis was later revealed to be a classified Army document. This dissertation, "Construction, Theoretical, and Experimental Solution to the Problem of the Liquid Propellant Rocket", was dated 16 April 1934 but did not surface until 70 years later. It detailed the construction and design of the A2 rocket that would fly later that year. References: 730. Level: 1.

• A2 rocket 'Max' successfully launched. Apogee: 2.20 km (1.37 mi). Von Braun's German Ordnance group launches A-2 'Max' from the Island of Borkum in the North Sea before the Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. The rocket is at an altitude of 1.7 km at burn-out, and reaches 2.2 km before falling back to impact 800 m from the launch point. References: 17, 394, 693, 730. Level: 1.

• A2 rocket 'Moritz' successfully launched. Apogee: 3.50 km (2.10 mi). Von Braun's German Ordnance group launches the second of two A-2 rockets ('Moritz') successfully to a height of 3.5 km on the Island of Borkum in the North Sea. Burnout is at 1.8 km, and the rocket ascends more vertically than the test the previous day, reaching a greater altitude and impacting 500 m from the launch point. References: 0. Level: 1.

• Me-163 rocket engine development begins. There was no interest within the German Aviation Ministry at that time in rocket engines as primary propulsion for a combat aircraft. Due to the rocket engine's high fuel consumption, it was seen as only useful in providing Jet Assisted Takeoff for conventional propeller aircraft. References: 693. Level: 1.

• He-112 rocket engine static tests. First static tests of Heinkel He-112 with rocket engines performed in Germany. References: 17. Level: 1.

• First test of liquid rocket engine intended for use on aircraft Spacecraft: Junkers 'Junior'. A 300 kgf engine was installed in a Junkers 'Junior' aircraft fuselage at Kummersdorf. This was the first rocket engine installation in an aircraft. But the problem to be solved was how to ensure continuous operation of the engine during aircraft manoeuvres. The rocket team finally built a big carousel, capable of testing the engine installation at up to 5 G's. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A3 rocket tested. Germans tested A-3 rocket with 1,500 kgf thrust which served as basis for military weapon specifications. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Go-ahead to build Peenemuende The missile test range is to be a combined Army / Air Force test ground. Von Braun had found the location in December 1935, after his first choice - Briz on the island of Ruegen - was taken over by the Deutsch Arbeitsfront as a 'Kraft durch Freude' recreation camp. During his Christmas holiday, Von Braun toured the cost, and found Peenemuende. It seemed perfect - 400 km of ocean to the east for use as a missile shooting range, room along the path on the coast for tracking radars. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun enters Luftwaffe. Wernher Von Braun joins the German Air Force and receives pilot training at Frankfurt/Oder and Stolp. Level: 1.

• A4 wind tunnel tests The tests showed that the A3 configuration was unstable in flight and that it was going to take a lot of trial and error to identify the correct aerodynamic shape for the supersonic missile. Therefore the decision was taken to go slow on development of the A4 until tests with the A3 were complete. The 25 tonne thrust engine would also have to be built and proven in ground tests to determine its actual characteristics before a lot of effort was put into final design and construction of the rest of the rocket. So a series of test launches of the A3 to test the A4 control and guidance systems were undertaken, while Test Stand I at Peenemuende was prepared for tests of the 25 tonne engine. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Ground broken at Peenemuende First objective is development of the A4 strategic ballistic missile, later dubbed the V-2. The missile is to deliver a one tonne high explosive payload to double the range of the Paris Gun of World War I (250 km - the Paris Gun could deliver a ten kg, 21 cm diameter shell to 125 km range). To provide a reserve, the missile was designed for a 1500 m/s burnout velocity, which resulted in a 275 km range. Accuracy was to be 2 to 3 per mille, versus typical artillery shell accuracy of 4 to 5 per mille. These requirements indicated a 25 tonne thrust engine, powering a 12 tonne missile, with a 2100 m/s exhaust velocity, burning 8 tonnes of propellant in 65 seconds. The requirement to transport the missile by rail limited the diameter to 1.6 m, which in turn led to a 14 m length. Span with the detachable tail fins was 3.5 m.

  Several major issues had to be solved during development. The first was what wing and body shapes would be stable at supersonic velocities. Another was building adequate ground facilities for the intensive tests needed to develop the 25 tonne thrust motor. For this purpose a static test facility was built at Peenemuende capable of handling 100 tonne thrust motors, seen as the next step after the A4. Another major problem was developing high-capacity pumps to deliver the liquid oxygen at a temperature of -185 deg C. References: 693. Level: 1.

• First supersonic wind tunnel. Following problems with testing of the A3 (a subscale version of the planned V-2) by Dr Hermann, Von Braun proposes to the Germany army that a supersonic wind tunnel be constructed at a cost he estimates as 300,000 Marks. Other parts of the Army are not supportive of the facility, but it is finally built, costing millions more than Von Braun estimated. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Rocketplane stand tests completed at Kummersdorf During the year the team had proven installation of a 1000 kgf engine, installed in a He-112, at burn times of up to 90 seconds. References: 693. Level: 1.

• German rocketplane tests Spacecraft: He-112. Three flight tests were made between February and April in a He-112 equipped with a 300 kgf liquid fuel rocket engine by Flight-Captain Erich Warsitz from Neuhardenberg near Berlin. On the final flight Warstiz smelled something burning, and made an emergency belly landing. He survived but the aircraft had to be written off. Engine exhaust had flowed back into the space between the engine and fuselage and burnt cables. Work on this engine continued at Area 4 at Peenemuende. The planned application was a 1000 kgf JATO pod, with a burn time of 30 seconds, to boost bombers into the air. References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun joins Nazi Party. Wernher Von Braun joins the Nazi Party. Level: 1.

• Peenemünde opened. Joint German Army-Air Force rocket research station opened at Peenemünde on the Baltic Sea. The Army Ordnance rocket program under Capt. Walter Dornberger moved 90 of its staff from Kummersdorf. Thiel and five staff working on V-2 rocket engine development remained at Kummersdorf until the summer of 1940, when the test stands at Peenemuende were finally completed.. References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• First A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). First launch of an A3 rocket. New facilites being built at Peenemuende were not ready, so the A3 launches were made from the offshore island of Greifswalder Oie. The A3 launched on this day was 6.5 m long and 70 cm in diameter. The engine occupied the first 2 m of the fuselage. The missile had a 750 kg lift-off mass, including 450 kg of propellant, which was pressurised to 20 atmospheres. The 1.5 tonne thrust engine had a 1900 m/s exhaust velocity and a 45 second burn time. The parachute deployed 3 seconds after launch, and the engine cutoff at 6.5 seconds. The rocket impacted and exploded 300 m from the launch point. References: 86, 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Second launch of an A3. Same result as the first - the rocket made a quarter turn after launch, then reached only 100 m before the parachute jettisoned and the missile crashed into the sea a short distance from the launch stand. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 0.10 km (0.06 mi). Third launch of an A3. No parachute deployment and the engine cut-off early. The rocket impacted into the Baltic Sea and sank. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A3 launch Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). Final launch of the A3. The rocket is fired without the parachute that ruined the first two attempts, but in heavy fog. It is more successful than earlier shots, but at 800 to 1000 m altitude it also veers over and thrusts its way downward into the ocean. Analysis showed that the fins steering the rocket could not overcome the 8 m/s wind blowing at the time of the launch. Further study shows that at the low speed of initial rocket acceleration, a wind as little as 4 m/s would be enough to topple the rocket. A rudder area ten times greater than is needed to control the rocket at low speeds. This result leads to the decision to abandon the A3 configuration and build the A5 to support development of the A4 missile. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A4 engine tests begin The engine delivered 18 months after design started was so compact, that the length of the A4 could be cut in half. Walter Thiel, a gifted and systematic researcher, was responsible for the engine design. He had great difficulties in obtaining stable combustion, and preventing burn-through of the chamber walls. Various injector patterns were studied in a 1.5 tonne thrust chamber. His research finally reduced the combustion chamber length from 2 m to 30 cm, while the exhaust velocity was increased from 2000 m/s to 2100 m/s, and eventually reached 2280 m/s. However the reduction in the cooling area of the chamber also increased problems in preventing hot spots and burn through. This was finally solved by using a conical throat exit and a mixing chamber ahead of the burning chamber. The 1.5 tonne thrust engine was initially run at 15 bar pressure, versus the 50 bar desired. But whenever the combustion chamber pressure was increased, burn-throughs occurred, as well as forcing increases in the mass of the pumps and tanks. Therefore finally the decision was taken to leave the chamber pressure at 15 bar.

  The next step was to make a 4.5 tonne thrust by clustering three of the 1.5 tonne engines as preburners. However Thiel still had burn-throughs in test runs. Poehlmann suggested the use of film cooling, which finally solved the problem. For the 25 tonne thrust engine, Thiel simply used 18 x 1.5 tonne thrust chambers, feeding a common mixing chamber. This was on the test stand in early 1939. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A5 delivered to Peenemuende. The first A5 drop test model is delivered to Peenemuende just weeks after the third A3 test. Production is planned at a rate of 10 per month to define the A4 aerodynamic configuration. Objective of the first tests is to break the sound barrier - in the wind tunnel no configuration of fins had managed to go through the barrier without disintegrating. The only test possibility was to drop the model from a great height, and let gravity accelerate it to supersonic speeds. The model weighs 250 kg and is 1.6 m long and 20 cm in diameter. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun is discharged from the Luftwaffe. Level: 1.

• Rocket fighters Spacecraft: He-176, He-122, Me-163. The first rocket fighter, the He-176, powered by a Walther engine, was tested at Peenemuende. In competition, Dornberger's team developed a 120-second duration engine to power the He-122. However loss of control in unpowered flights of the latter resulted in it crashing and being eliminated from further consideration. Dornberger's team left further rocket fighter engine development to Walther, and concentrated on the A4 and follow-on ballistic missiles. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A5 launches from Greifswalder Oie Apogee: 12 km (7 mi). In the summer of 1938 the decision is made to go ahead with four A5 tests from Greifswalder Oie without the stabilising system or a parachute. The first missile ascended into a low wind, and reached 8 km altitude, nearing but not exceeding the sound barrier. Maximum altitude reached in the test series is 12 km. References: 394, 693. Level: 1.

• A5 stabilisation system tests In order to test the A4's stabilisation system, Walter, Kiel, is subcontracted to build a large number of model A5's. Like the drop test models, these are 20 cm and 1.6 m long. However they weigh only 47 kg gross lift-off mass, with a 27 kg empty mass. The rocket engine burns 85% hydrogen peroxide monopropellant using a calcium permanganate catalyst. The engine produces 120 kgf for 15 seconds, and has an exhaust velocity of 1000 m/s. The design objective is a low cost, reliable, and simple rocket, which will allow a large number of trail-and-error test launches to be made within a tight budget. The fins developed for the A4 as a result of these tests were shorter and wider than those of the A3. They owed nothing to aircraft wing designs of the times, which couldn't withstand supersonic speeds. But they were still too affected by the wind, tending to set the rocket on a rotation around its long axis during ascent. References: 693. Level: 1.

• First A5 drop test. The model is dropped from a He-111 bomber from 7000 m. It breaks through the sound barrier at 1000 m altitude at a speed of 360 m/s. The stabilising fins keep the maximum oscillation of the model to within 5 degrees from vertical. The drogue ring parachute then deployed to decelerate the model to 100 m/s, followed by the main parachute which slows it to 5 m/s when it impacts in the ocean. References: 693. Level: 1.

• JATO tests at Peenemuende From 1939-1940 a series of rocket engine tests to support development of a JATO pod were conducted from Peenemuende-West with a He-111. It was found that liquid oxygen was not an appropriate oxidiser for civil use, so the engineers at Walther - Kiel introduced hydrogen peroxide as an alternate. The Walther engine was simpler than the rocket team's prototype, could produce 1000 kgf for 300 seconds, and was capable of taking a rocket fighter to 12 km altitude within two minutes from engine start. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Hitler visits Kummersdorf-West This was the first time he became acquainted with liquid rocket engine technology. 300 kgf and 1000 kgf engines were fired in his presence. A colour-coded cutaway model of the A3 rocket was presented and its systems explained. Hitler was quiet throughout the exhibits and asked no questions. Afterwards, while taking lunch at the mess hall, he asked only about the development schedule (clucking when told), the range of the missile, and the impact on the schedule if synthetic 'Eisenbled' was substituted for light metal alloys in the rocket frame. Hitler spoke of deceased rocket pioneer Max Valier - he had known him in Munich, but dismissed him as a dreamer. Dornberger countered by comparing the state of rocket development to the early days of the zeppelin, when Lillienthal made the first primitive experiments. Hitler in turn dismissed airships as dangerous, filled with explosive gas . The Fuehrer finally departed with handshakes and few words. His summary of the day: 'Es war doch gewaltig' (it was impressive, nevertheless). The rocket team was dismayed - it was the first time a visitor had exhibited no reaction to the power the rocket engines when fired for their benefit. But on the plus side, Von Brauchtisch said he was astounded at the progress made by the team in only a few years. Dornberger believed Hitler was enthralled with artillery and tanks, and was unimpressed with rocket technology. He thought Hitler didn't understand the possibilities and didn't believe the time had come yet for development of the rocket as a weapon. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 in crisis After Hitler's visit, it finally it became clear to Dornberger that either support for the project would have to come from the highest level, or that Peenemuende should abandon rocket research and be devoted to more pressing war needs.

  Meanwhile the results of the air war over London showed that the A4 could be an economic weapon. Bombers were averaging only 5 to 6 missions, dropping only 6 to 8 tonnes of bombs before being shot down. Once the loss of trained flying crews was considered, the bomber cost 30 times more than the A4 to deliver a tonne of explosives on London compared to the expendable A4 at its production price of 38,000 Marks. But time was being lost in convincing others in the German leadership that the missile should be put into production. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Wernher von Braun proposed to the German Reich Air Ministry a "fighter with rocket drive". Spacecraft: Von Braun Rocketplane. The vertical take-off interceptor would reach 8 km altitude in 53 seconds and then manoeuvre toward the aircraft to be intercepted. The design was developed further by Fieseler as the Fi-166, which retained the rocket takeoff but used a turbojet for a longer cruising flight. The Ministry finally rejected the vertical-takeoff rocket interceptor concept at the end of 1941. The concept was revived at the end of the war as the Bachem Natter. Level: 1.

• A4 full scale development authorised Von Brauchtisch gave the go-ahead for the A4 to enter full development as a weapon system for the German Army. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Goering tours Kummersdorf-West Unlike Hitler, he was enthusiastic about the potential of rocket technology. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Rocket development given highest priority Von Brauchtisch obtained the highest priority for development of the A4. This was used in early 1940 to get 4,000 soldiers with the necessary engineering and technical backgrounds released from the Army and sent to Peenemuende's 'Versuchskommando-Nord'. Nevertheless there was a constant fight for priority in obtaining materials. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A-5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). New test series at Greifswalder Oie. The island had changed a lot, with massive new concrete installations. Three A3's were flown with a new Siemens control system. The first was launched vertically, reaching 7 km at 45 seconds into the flight at the time of engine cut-off. Both the drogue and main parachutes functioned correctly, and the rocket splashed down in the harbour and was recovered a half hour later by a motor boat (the rocket could float for up to two hours before water entering the empty propellant tanks would sink it). References: 17. Level: 1.

• Second functional A5 launch. Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi). This was a vertical launch, replicating the first launch of the series, and was again recovered successfully. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Third functional A5 launch. Apogee: 4.00 km (2.40 mi). This was the first test of the pitch-over manoeuvre required for the operational A4. The test went perfectly - the rocket pitched over 4 seconds after lift-off, reaching 4 km altitude, and was 6 km downrange from the launch point when the drogue parachute deployed. The rocket was recovered from the ocean successfully. This was finally a complete success after seven years of developmental effort. But the rocket had not broken the sound barrier. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Further A5 test launches. Apogee: 18 km (11 mi). The German rocket team successfully fired and recovered further A5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes, attaining altitude of 12 km and a range of 18 km. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A9 basic research and design By adding wings to the A4, the 800 m/s of kinetic energy the rocket had at cut-off could be exploited in a glide attack, extending the range of the missile from 250 km to 550 km. Such a supersonic aircraft had never been flown and presented many aerodynamic and engineering problems in 1943. Various tests of the A4's with wings began in early 1940. These were successful, and the configuration was dubbed the A9. The trajectory for such a missile involved a boost to an apogee of 29 km, then a stable glide at 20 km altitude at a speed of 1250 m/s. At the end of the glide, the missile would have descended to 5 km altitude, then make a vertical dive on the target in the fashion of the Fi-103/V-1. The A9 would be equipped with wings with a total area of 13.5 sq m. A manned version of this boost-glide rocketplane was also designed. This could reach a conventional airfield 600 km from the launch point in only 17 minutes, landing at a speed of 160 kph. Another possibility to further extend range would be a catapult-launched A9, using the technology developed for the V-1. This would provide an extra velocity of 350 m/s, further extending the missile's potential range. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende wind tunnel goes into operation. The tunnel was used an average of 500 hours per month. 1000 cubic metres of vacuum vessels were pumped to a 98% vacuum in three to five minutes by three banks of double vacuum pumps. When vented, they provided the tunnel with 20 seconds of run time at velocities from Mach 1.2 to Mach 4.0, or 1500 m/s. Models 4 to 5 cm in diameter x 30-40 cm long could be accommodated in the tunnel, instrumented at 110 data points. These tests showed that drag increased 70% at the sound barrier and that the centre of pressure on the missile moved back one-half calibre. The wind tunnel runs showed that the basic A4 shape was all right, but that it needed load-carrying wings and a new rudder for the higher-speed A9 glider version. Huge trial and error was required to develop an A9 configuration that was stable, but not so stable that the control surfaces were too large. An arrow wing was the best performing, but the control surfaces were then in the turbulent flow of the wing and inadequate. Swept wings provided 12% less glide ratio than the arrow wing, resulting in a 60 km loss of range. Trapezoidal wings were the final solution, the end of a long iterative process.

  Peenemuende-developed delta wings were adapted to Army artillery rounds of the 105 mm flak gun and K5 280 mm cannon, decreasing drag by 35%. The result was an increase of 6 kg in the explosive load, a 6 kg increase in the iron mass of the round, but with a range increase from 59 to 90 km. Equipped with a new, lighter warhead, and a sabot boosting a slimmer round, the gun could shoot projectiles to a range of 135 to 150 km, with an accuracy of 2 per mill. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Design A9/A10 of the two stage transatlantic ballistic missile began in 1940. First flight would have been in 1946. Work on the A9/A10 was prohibited after 1943 when all efforts were to be spent on perfection and production of the A4 as a weapon-in-being. Von Braun managed to continue some development and flight tests of the A9 under the cover name of A4b (i.e. a modification of the A4, and therefore a production-related project). In late 1944 work on the A9/A10 resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika, but no significant hardware development was possible after the last test of the A4b in January 1945. Level: 1.

• A4 radio guidance tests In early 1940 a Do-17M aircraft was equipped with a Siemens fully automatic autopilot. This was designed to keep the aircraft within a 50 mhz guidance beam, which was produced at a 3 kW transmitter installed at Bornholm Island in Denmark, northeast of Peenemuende. The aircraft would capture the beam b flying within 1 degree of the its centre at a distance of 2 km from the transmitter. After a 140 km flight the aircraft would still be within 20 m of the correct position. The beam had a total effective range of 200 km. The Peenemuende team remembered its accuracy by the fact that on each test they would always fly over the same small red house in Bornholm on the coast.

  Use of the system on the A4 was complicated by the problem of the electrical charge that formed on the rocket body during flight through the atmosphere, and the electrical ions in the rocket exhaust, both of which made good reception of radio signals difficult. 90% of a 50 mhz signal was attenuated at the critical moment of engine cut-off. Another accuracy issue was oscillation of the rocket once it was out of the atmosphere - the rudders in the exhaust did not act smoothly, producing the equivalent of pilot-induced oscillations. The solution was to develop a missile that rode the beam during the entire boost phase, not just converging with it at the point of engine cut-off.

  Many partial system test stands were used to solve these control and guidance problems, most notably a full-up 'iron bird' that could be used to test the effect of new systems on existing components. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun learns of Saenger's secret work at Trauen Saenger's advanced rocketry work was so secret that Von Braun was not even aware of it until one of his team, looking for a new method of rocket ignition, heard of its existence. Von Braun, Walter Thiel, and Rudolf Hermann were finally given a tour of Saenger's advanced facilities at Trauen. Level: 1.

• A4 rocket development removed from priority list. After the military success in Poland, Hitler believes development of expensive 'wonder weapons' are unnecessary to win the war. The A4 and other rocket projects are removed from the priority list, making acquisition of necessary materials and engineers difficult. References: 394. Level: 1.

• First full-duration test of A4 engine. The engine is run at 25 tonnes thrust for 60 seconds on Test Stand I at Peenemuende. References: 394. Level: 1.

• Hitler invades Norway, Denmark Level: 1.

• Von Braun promoted to SS Untersturmfuehrer. Von Braun's membership in the SS is 'renewed' and he is promoted to Untersturmfuehrer with the SS number 185068. According to some accounts he had joined the SS as early as 1934. Level: 1.

• Hitler invades the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg Level: 1.

• Hitler invades France Level: 1.

• Peenemuende test stands completed. Thiel and the remaining staff of the rocket team at Kummersdorf moved to Peenemuende. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Saenger attends hypersonics conference at Peenemuende. Reciprocating his visit to Saenger's Trauen facility earlier in the year, Von Braun obtains permission for Saenger to attend a hypersonics symposium at Peenemuende. Level: 1.

• The V-3 Hochdruckpumpe supergun conceived Coenders at Saar Roechling proposed the concept of sequentially electrically activated angled side chambers to provide additional acceleration of a shell during its passage up the barrel of the gun. This allowed a muzzle velocity of over 1500 m/s. A 140 m long cannon using this concept would be capable of delivering a 140 kg shell over a 165 km range. Funding is finally obtained to build a subscale prototype. Level: 1.

• A4 engine improvements Throughout the early 1940's Thiel and his team sought to produce a single chamber 25 tonne thrust engine in place of the kludged prototype engine that used 18 separate 1.5 tf chambers. They managed to demonstrate a 60 second burn time in the 18-chamber design, but the engine itself was considered too complicated to fabricate in production, requiring thousands of hand-assembled tubes to introduce fuel and oxidiser into the chamber. Thiel sought to replace these thousands of tubes with a simpler injection system - rows of simple bored holes on a flat injector plate at the head of the chamber. Beck at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden developed a ring-pattern injector that worked well in subscale engines. But the design proved unstable in the 25 tf engine. Therefore, it was decided to stick with the 18-head chamber for V-2 production. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 facilities The A4 assembly hall at Area 7 at Peenemuende was 30 m high and 50 m long. After assembly, the missile was moved to the cold flow test stand. There each rocket was tested and calibration documents were generated, necessary for the launch troops to take into account when preparing the rocket and programming its guidance system. The launch pad itself was ringed by a 7 m wide concrete embankment, and sunk 6 m into the ground. The viewpoint was 150 m from the pad, at the southern, smaller end of the complex.

  The pad was surrounded by instrumentation rooms. Water was delivered at 500 litres/second through a 1.20 m diameter pipe to a molybdenum steel cooling section, consisting of many pipes running around the exhaust blast diverter. Other test stands included number 10, where the effects of the rocket exhaust on different material surfaces was tested; and number 8, where newly delivered engines were fired and calibrated. These certification tests ran as long as 650 seconds on the water-cooled stand. Area 9 was used for launches of the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile, and Area 2 for tests of the A4 using nitric acid and Visol as propellants. Area 4 was devoted to firing tests of engines installed in aircraft fuselages, and Area 3 contained the 1000 kgf engine test stand. This stand included pump and steam test stands, and a hydrogen peroxide plant. Area 6 was built to the same design as the largest test stands at Kummersdorf, and used for A5 tests. Hundreds of A5's were shot from Greifswalder Oie. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Full-scale development of A4 authorised. Following the loss of the air war with Britain, the German military leadership realises that missiles offer the only possibility of attacking London. Development of the A4 to the point of production-readiness is authorised. References: 394. Level: 1.

• Me-163A first flight. Messerschmitt Me-163A powered by "cold" H. Walther rocket successfully flown at Augsburg, Germany, development of which had begun in 1937, but "cold" engine proved unreliable. Flights were also made in October which reached speeds of 1,003 km/hr, or Mach 0.85. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Von Braun promoted to SS Obersturmfuehrer. Level: 1.

• Mach 10 wind tunnel designed. In preparation for the A9/A10 transatlantic missile, the Peenemuende team completed design of a Mach 10 wind tunnel. However construction would not begin for another two years due to priority on devoting all available engineering time to getting the A4 into production. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende team's ambitions Von Braun was obsessed by grandiose futuristic fantasies, and Dornberger felt he constantly had to throw cold water on the engineer to keep them in check. But this tendency was easily overshadowed by Von Braun's fantastic ability to solve a technical problem, to throw all the extraneous ballast overboard and concentrate on the solution. In the moment the solution was technically realised, Von Braun no longer had any interest in the issue and dropped it.

  There was never any doubt that manned space travel was Von Braun's life goal. The technology needed for manned flight presented many such technical challenges. He realised early on that only multi-staged liquid propelled rockets could achieve his dream. Rockets certainly needed lighter propellant tanks, but there was a practical technical limit to this, and in any case, there still had to be a payload. Von Braun knew that liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen was the ultimate propellant combination, but also that learning how to handle liquid hydrogen would be a long-term affair. A one-year study at the Technische Hochschule in Dresden and Peenemuende showed that other propellant combinations could produce no more than a 20% improvement in specific impulse compared to the existing V-2 technology. Therefore a multistage rocket was the only way to achieve orbital spaceflight. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 series production An initial series of prototypes were built at the factories of Dip-Ing Stahlknecht, then a second line was opened up at Dr Eckener's Zeppelinwerke. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 s/n 1 moved to Test Stand VII at Peenemuende. The missile was used for facility checks and checking of launch procedures. References: 394. Level: 1.

• V-2 s/n 1 explodes during engine test run. The missile was being tested on Test Stand VII; no launch had been planned. G Harry Stine noticed that the German rocket scientists at White Sands were very reluctant to talk about the details of the failure, but finally managed to get the real story from Konrad Dannenberg:

  The first A.4 missile was a hand-made job. Motor tests preceding the first flight were to be carried out in a huge, mobile test stand, which held the entire missile. However, this first A.4 never flew; it found its end in the test stand. In order to clamp the missile into the stand without attaching the thrust mounts to the missile structure, a large steel corset was built. Unfortunately, the builders of this corset did not take into account the shrinkage of the missile components when the frigid liquid oxygen was pumped aboard. The first A4 shrank, dropped out of the corset, and was a total wash-out.

  The test was to have examined the behavior of the guidance system and the graphite steering vanes in the exhaust flow. The corset had pivot mountings on it to allow the missile to be deflected while its motor was being fired, to see how fast the steering vanes responded, and what amount of corrective force they developed. After the failure, the Peenemuende team was embarrassed by the fact that they had overlooked something as obvious as the fact that cold things shrink. References: 394. Level: 1.

• A4 reliability development The early failure rate of the A4 prototype missiles was extremely high, so the Peenemuende rocket team had to develop new measures to test and improve reliability down to the component level. This included improved quality control during manufacture, and test of the missile's components in all weathers, not just in heated laboratories. This resulted in the overall missile failure rate declining from 17% in the early test series to 4% in the final series. The V-1/Fi-103 cruise missile had a 28% higher failure rate, even though it was a simpler design. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Submarine launch of powder rockets Solid propellant rockets were fired from a submerged platform off Greifswalder Oie to test the concept of a submarine-launched missile. The idea came from Steihoff, an engineer on the rocket team whose brother was a submarine captain. 20 to 30 Wurfgeraete of the Army's smoke corps, equipped with flammable oil or explosive warheads, were shot at the coast from up to 3 km away. The concept was to put enemy coastal oil storage tanks into flames. At Swinemuende a launcher was installed aboard a Submarine and salvoes of 20 rockets successfully fired from 10 to 15 m under water. The launcher was unnoticeable on the submarine, and the dispersion of the rockets was only a bit worse than a shot from land. But the German Navy wouldn't accept simply using an existing Army launcher. They insisted on developing a different one themselves, which would take a year, putting deployment of the system beyond the end of the war. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun promoted to SS Hauptsturmfuehrer. Level: 1.

• Train-launched A4. A rail-launched A4 was considered from the beginning of the project. At the end of 1942 the first train launcher wagon was completed and trials began from Test Stand VII at Peenemuende. In service the trains would have hidden in double-tracked train tunnels. Development was interrupted to get the vehicle-towed standard version of the weapon into service. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 priority Dornberger clashes with Speer over priority for the A4. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende team's spaceflight plans Using catapults and wings an A9 might nearly achieve 1000 km range, but the only solution for transatlantic missions was the two-stage A9/A10. The A10 boost stage was to have a total mass of 87 tonnes, of which 62 tonnes would be propellant. The stage's 200 tonne thrust motor would burn for 50 to 60 seconds, taking the A9 upper stage to 1200 m/s. Then the A9 would separate and burn its engine, reaching an apogee of 55 km, followed by a long hypersonic glide in the atmosphere. The second stage would be equipped with air brakes for deceleration over the target, followed by a parachute for recovery in the water. The A9/A10 would reach a maximum velocity of 2800 m/s, and have a range of 4100 km, and a total flight time of 35 minutes. Full-scale development was underway, when further significant work on the project was stopped at the end of 1942. Only the Advanced Projects Group, under the direction of Dip-Ing Roth and Ing Palt, continued design of the missile. It was also planned to develop, after the war, a stratospheric rocket that could travel in 40 minutes from Europe to America. After that, the target was orbital spaceships that could reach 8 km/sec and 500 km orbital altitude. Beyond that, space stations and the burial in space of the embalmed bodies of the rocket developers and men of the rocket service. Manned expeditions to the moon were also a popular theme for research. Finally, the use of nuclear energy to achieve interstellar travel was studied by the Advanced Projects Group. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Further work on the A9/A10 ICBM was prohibited All efforts were to be spent on perfection and production of the A4 (V-2) as a weapon-in-being. Von Braun managed to continue some development and flight tests of the A9 under the cover name of A4b (i.e. a modification of the A4, and therefore a production-related project). Level: 1.

• A4 guidance development Using its original gyroscopic guidance package, the A4 demonstrated a 4.5 km CEP up to 1943, with 100% of the shots falling within 18 km of the target. Many factors contributed to this inaccuracy - out of tolerance guidance system components, and poor alignment of the gyro platform prior to firing. One solution developed was a radio correction system similar to that used by aircraft for landings in poor visibility. A moving radio beam would follow the correct course, and the rocket would manoeuvre to stay within the beam. But there was no support within the Army for full development of such a system - their priority was in developing and deploying distance-measuring radio navigation systems for the aviation forces. A radio guidance unit was not used aboard an A4 until near the war's end, and that used an adaptation of a system designed for a beam-riding air-launched missile. But even using the radio correction technique, the engineers were unable to get the rocket's CEP under 2 km. References: 693. Level: 1.

• German nuclear-powered rocket development deferred. Dornberger contacts Heisenberg on the potential of using nuclear power for rocket propulsion. Heisenberg was able to make no firm commitment as to when such a system would be available. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Showdown meeting on A4 Speer meets with Von Braun and Dornberger. A 1:100 model of the planned bunker construction-launch facility for the rocket to be built by Organisation Todt on the British channel was exhibited. Speer reveals that Hitler could not decide about the rocket as a weapon. He did not believe the rocket team's plans could be made to work. But Speer did authorise them to proceed with construction on his own authority - he hoped Hitler could be brought around eventually. But he emphasised that Dornberger would have to use his personal connections to get industry moving on the project. But Dornberger was thwarted when the Army put Degenkolb in charge of organising production of the missile. Degenkolb was a sworn enemy of Dornberger's, and had been implicated in the 'suicide' of General Becker in early 1940. Degenkolb set up a Nazi-supported bureaucracy in parallel to that of Dornberger's, requiring the approval of the Army weapons bureau on any decisions. Degenkolb had the sponsorship of Todt and Saur, who in turn followed the party line - 'like the Fuehrer, we are not yet won over to the concept of a long range missile'.

  In order to productionise the A4 design, Degenkolb began authorising many detailed changes. He didn't understand that every change had to be proven in test first, and only incremental steps could be taken. Stahlknecht had planned to produce 300 A4 missiles per month by January 1944, and 600 per month by July 1944. Degenkolb unrealistically decreed that 300 per month be achieved by October 1943, and 900 per month by December 1943. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende privatisation In a meeting with Professor Hettlage, of the Financial and Organisational Ministry of the German Defence Industry, it was proposed that Peenemuende be made a private country, with the Nazi Party and selected corporations (AEG, Siemens, Lorenz, Rheinmetall) being its shareholders. Dornberger saw Degenkolb behind this plan, and was determined to keep Peenemuende an Army proving ground. He felt that an asset, on which several hundred million Marks had been invested by the government, was being handed over to private hands for 1 to 2 million Marks. The investors intended to recover their entire investment back on a fee paid for each missile built. In the end Dornberger managed to keep Peenemuende an Army proving ground, but then he had to fight off an attempt by AEG to take over the electronics side of the development team. The rocket team's electronic engineers were years ahead of the rest of the industry, and a tempting target. References: 693. Level: 1.

• A4 production plans A4 missiles were to be produced at Peenemuende, Friedrichshafen, and the Raxwerken at Wiener Neustadt. But problems began immediately - the Army expected the rockets to be as easy to build as locomotives; there was no engineering staff or time available to productionise the prototype design; there were no staff available to properly train production engineers and technicians. Degenkolb threatened to imprison the rocket team's engineers if they didn't get the missile into production on schedule. He was oblivious to the difficulties of achieving this. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Hitler's dream Hitler dreamed that no A4 missile could ever reach England. The result was that the program lost its priority amidst other pressing armaments programs, and the necessary engineers and production rocket engines could not be obtained. While losing priority, the high security classification remained, so it was not possible to recruit non-German engineers and technicians for the work. The production schedule inevitably slid. Finally the government decided to competitively evaluate the Fi-103 cruise missile (V-1) against the A4 ballistic missile (V-2) leading to the selection of a single weapon for mass production by July of 1943. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Himmler visits Peenemuende This was the first review of the facilities by the SS commander. He pledged support, but instead the SS set up its own rocket research centre at Grossendorf, near Danzig. This marked yet another struggle for control of the programme. Himmler was defeated in this effort, but he would take his revenge later. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-3 tests. The V-3 cannon was tested at Misdroy on Wollin Island (now Miedzyzdroje, Poland). The gun was a 60 m long constant-pressure cannon developed by Coenders of the Roechling firm in Saarbrucken. The gun was laid at a 45 degree angle in the dunes. Aiming was accomplished by arranging wood blocks under the concrete sections. The gun demonstrated a 15 km range with a sabot-launched, arrow-shaped warhead. The tests were conducted under Kammler, who was responsible for all V-weapons. Dornberger had been opposed to the concept, but everyone else was enthusiastic, due to Hitler's support and unending fascination with artillery. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 development detected by British Intelligence. Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England was informed of reports on German experiments with long-range rockets. References: 17. Level: 1.

• V-1/V-2 fly-off A government commission, consisting of Speer, Milch, Doenitz, and Fromm viewed launches of the competing missiles at Peenemuende. The V-1/Fi-103 was much cheaper than the V-2/A4, but it was slow and low - it operated at 160 m/s at an altitude of between 200 and 2000 m - and vulnerable to enemy flak batteries and interceptors. It provided the enemy with a forewarning of attack by its characteristic engine noise and the cut-off of that noise when it went into its terminal dive. It could only be launched from fixed concrete launch ramps, making the launchers vulnerable to enemy air attack. The V-2 was mobile, more accurate, could not be intercepted, and gave the enemy no warning of attack in its supersonic ballistic course to the target. In the end, the commission could find no overwhelming advantage to either of the very different weapons, and both were ordered into production. The positive advantages of each weapon outweighed the negatives. In the tests before the commission, the Fi-103 had bad luck, and achieved no successful shots for two of the A4. '2:0 for your team', Milch told Dornberger. Speer claimed he 'always supported' the A4 but Dornberger ruefully noted they had lost 18 months in delays, primarily due to Degenkolb's incompetence. Speer pressed Dornberger - if Degenkolb really can't make it happen, then just give me the word. He'll be dismissed. But Degenkolb was not dismissed - he had Saur's complete backing. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Dornberger promoted Dornberger was promoted to Major General. But Degenkolb was still in charge of A4 production, and had sent four engineers to spy at Peenemuende, asking them to provide recommendations on reorganisation of the place, promising the four that they would be made directors of the new enterprise. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 firing range to be established in Poland. It is decided to move testing of production V-2s and training of combat launch crews from the Baltic Sea to the middle of Poland, at Heidelager, near Blizna. German units here operationally test fired over 100 V-2's, launching 10 on one day, only a small number of which were fully successful. References: 17. Level: 1.

• First Me-163B flight. Messerschmitt Me-163B rocket interceptor powered by Walther "hot" engine successfully flown at Bremen, Augsburg, and near Leipzig, Germany. Over 300 Me-163B's were produced by Junkers by the end of 1944. References: 17. Level: 1.

• A4 development Area 7 was used for tests of the A4's pyrotechnic igniters. The missile could be ordered to cut off its engine by radio if it veered inland. Delays in development were inevitable - a 'Peenemuende Minute' corresponded to 11 minutes or more on the watch. On one memorable occasion, the missile ignited, but its fuel pump did not reach full speed. The rocket reached only 4.5 m altitude before hovering, its abnormally low thrust exactly counterbalancing the mass of the missile. The film operator kept his post, only 100 m from the fantastic sight. As the rocket consumed propellant, its weight was reduced, and it slowly moved skyward, reaching 10 m, then 22 m, and slowly drifting out of the launch pad area. It finally crashed only 40 m beyond the blast wall. The cameraman stayed at his post through all of this. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Von Braun promoted to SS Sturmbannfuehrer. He was assigned to the Staff of the Oberabschnitt Ostsee. Level: 1.

• Himmler's second visit to Peenemuende The rocket team and SS entourage discussed politics until 4 am. The next morning, the first demonstration launch of a V-2 failed - the missile turned west at an altitude of 200 m, and crashed in the woods outside of Peenmuende-West, destroying three aircraft on the nearby runway. Fortunately no one was killed. The second launch in the afternoon was successful. But the bureaucratic efforts by the SS and other organisations to take over the rocket program from the Army continued. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 given top priority. Adolf Hitler gave the German V-2 program highest military priority. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende given highest priority Dornberger, Von Braun, and Steinhoff (at the controls) fly aboard a He-111 to the Fuehrer bunker in East Prussia. There they give Hitler a review of the V-2 program, the first since his visit to Kummersdorf in March 1939. The appointment was for 11:30, but then delayed to 17:00.

  When they were finally ushered into his presence, Dornberger was shocked at the terrible and changed appearance of the Fuehrer. The team begins their briefing, in the presence of Hitler, Keitel, Jodl, Butale, and Speer. The presentation began with a film of preparations and launch of an A4 on the 3 October 1942. Von Braun narrated the film, which had proven a real crowd-pleaser in the past. It showed the A4 in production at the vast assembly hall at Peenemuende, the vertical roll-out, the huge launch complex, and finally launch. Von Braun then presented a model and plans for the hardened production/launch bunker that was being built on the English Channel.

  Hitler loved the bunker model, and declared he wanted to build not one, but three such facilities. Dornberger argued that mobile launchers would be militarily less vulnerable and less costly, but Hitler was unconvinced. The 7 m thick bunker walls, he declared, would 'draw every allied bomber like flies to honey. Every bomb they drop there will be one that does not fall on Germany'. Hitler asks if the payload can be increased to 10 tonnes (in order to accommodate a nuclear warhead) or if a 2,000 per month production rate was possible (in order to make mass attacks on Britain with conventional explosive or chemical payloads). Dornberger replies that it would take four to five years to develop a missile with greater payload, and that production was limited by the German industrial capacity for alcohol (used as fuel in the missile).

  Dornberger noted that they did not dream of the possibility of short-term availability of nuclear energy in 1936, when the specifications for the missile were set. In any case, after the loss of the heavy water plant in Norway, it would take years to develop nuclear weapons. Hitler was visibly upset that the V-2 would not turn out to be a war-deciding weapon. But Dornberger pointed out it was a great psychological weapon - unstoppable, something against their which there was no defence.

  Hitler stated that 'I have only had to excuse myself to two men in my life - and one of them was von Brauchtisch, who always championed the importance of your work, and the other is you. If we had this weapon in 1939, Britain would have conceded, and there would have been no war.

  Hitler finally ordered that the V-1 and V-2 missile programs be given the highest priority in the defence ministry. Immediately needed staff and material began flowing into the program. Saur immediately ordered a production goal of 2,000 missiles per month, despite the fact that there was no prospect of producing enough alcohol fuel or training enough launch crews to actual fire the missiles at such a rate. However, there was no disagreement, since any industry leader who did not commit to meeting this production goal was threatened with immediate replacement. German alcohol production would mean the maximum number that could ever be fired was 900 per month. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 program in crisis With only four months to go before Degenkolb's mandated production of 900 missiles per month, the engineers declare the missile is not ready for production. A workable engine has been developed, but it is complex, suitable for prototypes only, and the engineers involved do not have the experience to turn it into something designed for mass production. Continuous changes on the engine also affect other parts of the rocket, resulting in drawing changes simultaneous with the effort to mass-produce detailed parts. Thiel and his team declare that in fact development of the A4 can never be finished before the war's end. They recommend that plans to put it into production should be stopped. Thiel, at the verge of a nervous breakdown, led this engineering 'revolt', although Rees was the spokesman. They declare they would stop work at Peenemuende and retire to the university. Von Braun argued against this position, demanding that production continue. Dornberger suffered a crisis of confidence in the rocket team as a result of this fight, but decided to continue trying to get the missile in production and fielded with the Germany Army. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemünde attacked by RAF. The Royal Air Force attacked Germany's Peenemünde Rocket Research Center, causing heavy damage and delaying V-weapon program by months.

  With the V-2 development program already in crisis, the Allies launch a massive bombing raid against Peenemuende. On that evening test pilot Hanna Reitsch was visiting the launch site. At 23:30 the air raid siren sounded. 600 British bombers drop 1500 tonnes of ordnance on the launch centre. However many bombs fell in the ocean around the peninsula, or buried themselves harmlessly in sand dunes. The resident area was hardest hit, while the Luftwaffe station at Peenemuende West was not touched. 47 British bombers were shot down - they were told before the raid that this was the most important mission of the war, and that their commanders would accept a 50% loss rate. 735 people were killed in the raid on the ground, including 178 of the 4000 inhabitants of the residential area. A large number of the foreign slave workers in the Trassenheide concentration camp barracks were also killed.

  After the tremendous raid the rocket team wander around the devastated facility, half-clothed, the buildings bathed in a weird light and everything covered in fine sand, as if flour was dropped over everything. Thiel and Walther - the two leading rocket engineers in Germany - were killed in the raid, and virtually all major facilities were damaged. The saving grace was that the soft sand of Peenemuende attenuated the blast of many bombs. Nine bombs hit the main assembly hall, but while there was splinter damage to some of the machine tools, there was no decisive hit that would prevent production from continuing. It was estimated that operations could resume in 4 to 6 weeks.

  The raid was not unexpected. The high altitude contrails of the V-2 test launches were called 'frozen lightning' and could be seen from Sweden on clear days. The location and purpose of Peenemuende appeared in a crossword puzzle in a illustrated magazine published in central Germany in early 1943. British reconnaissance flights to locate the launch facilities had been recognised for what they were.

  This raid, together with the bombing of V-2 production lines at the Zeppelinwerke in Friedrichshafen and the Raxwerke in Wiener Neustadt convinced Saur to reduce the V-2 production rate goal to 900 per month. References: 17, 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 production facilities bombed Ten days after the raid on Peenemuende, the British bomb the V-2 production/launch bunker under construction at Watten. Seven further bunkers (four in Pas-de-Calais, three at Cherbourg) continued to be built. Soon thereafter, V-2 production plants at Wiener Neustadt and Friedrichshafen are also bombed. Clearly the Allies had detected and targeted the infrastructure of the V-2 production program. In response to the raids, the decision was made that Organisation Todt would build an underground V-2 factory at a chalk mine in Witzen. The bunker at Watten would be used only as a liquid oxygen production plant. Hitler had mandated a 7 m thick protective roof there, which cannot be penetrated by Allied bombs. It was decided that the roof would be jacked up, the sides filled with concrete, and construction work would continue underground despite the perpetual bombing. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Submarine-launched V-2 Director Lafferenz of the German Worker's Front proposed towing of a 3 m diameter x 30 m long capsule containing a single V-2 by submarine. This was later refined to a single submarine towing three 500 tonne capsules, each with a V-2, its propellants, and launch equipment. At the launch point water tanks would be flooded in the capsule to bring it upright, with the top above the surface. The top would be opened, then launch troops would enter to prepare and fuel the rocket, followed by launch. But the pressing problem of solving the A4's reliability problems and getting it into production delayed any further work on the concept until the end of 1944. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Dornberger meets with Hitler Hitler decides to continue work on the bunkers. In Dornberger's opinion, this wastes resources that could have resulted in an earlier, full deployment of the V-2 using motorised, mobile batteries. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-3 in launch bunkers under construction at Mimoyecques, France. The operational version being built in the chalk cliffs of France used 4 to 5 m long T-shaped sections, assembled to a total length of 150 m, and capable of shooting shells over a 170 km range. However it took a large number of reloaders to put powder in each T-arm after a shot - the planned weapon could only be fired once every five minutes. Furthermore every third shot caused the barrel in one of the T-sections to crack, meaning it had to be removed and replaced. Bunkers in the Pas de Calais were being built for the weapon, but they were subject to incessant bombing and finally overrun by Allied troops before they could be completed. References: 693. Level: 1.

• German 'ski ramps' British photo-intelligence interpreters discover what they call 'ski ramps' along the Atlantic coast of occupied Europe. These are 100 m long, and a total of 21 are discovered by mid-November. It is soon noted that whatever their location, all of the ramps point toward London. Fantastic theories are proposed - they are iceberg or poison gas launchers. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Development of ballistic missiles authorized. Gen. H. H. Arnold, Chief of Air Staff, directed and authorized emphasis on research, development, and procurement of guided missiles, as indicated by known German advances. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Mach 10 wind tunnel construction begins. A4 development is completed, so Peenemuende engineers can turn to full-scale development of the A9/A10. Construction of a Mach 10 wind tunnel to test hypersonic aerodynamic configurations for the missile begins. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Decision to destroy the ski ramps Although their purpose is not understood, it is decided to start a bombing campaign to destroy the German 'ski ramps'. By December 1, 64 had been found, and 75 by 21 December. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Raid against V-1 launchers A raid is launched by Allied 1300 aircraft. The tactics have been developed at Eglin AFB, Florida, where a replica 'ski ramp' was built in an effort to understand its purpose and how best to bomb it. References: 693. Level: 1.

• First V-2 deliveries from Mittelwerk 4 or 5 missiles are 'delivered' in order to meet the end-of-the-year date set by the German leadership. They are immediately returned to the tunnel for rework. References: 727. Level: 1.

• V-2 sounding rockets Apogee: 189 km (117 mi). The Peenemuende team developed scientific payloads for a sounding rocket version of the V-2, to measure cosmic rays, meteoroid flux, and so on. However due to the pressure to solve the missile's reliability problems, these were never flown from Germany. Only after the war could these plans be implemented in New Mexico. However during the war there were some vertical shots of the missile to test its stability and behaviour in a vacuum. On one such shot the missile reached 189 km altitude. On another occasion four launch troops were killed when the missile ascended, then veered 90 degrees, turned again, and impacted in the launch pit at the point of launch. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 guidance development Early A4's were equipped with a radio-controlled cut-off system. These were replaced in service versions by self-contained integrating accelerometers. Professors Bucholz and Wagner at Darmstadt had developed the system, which was shown to have the same accuracy as the radio-controled system. This system had been tested as early as the fall of 1939, but no production quantities were available until mid-1944. Gyroscopic guidance systems from Kresselgeraete GmbH were tested, but found to have inferior accuracy to the acceleromter-based system. For better precision a double integrator system was needed, but this could not be developed before the war's end. Virtually all A4 systems were developed by the engineers at Peenemuende rather than by industry. Some said that it would have been better handled by industry, but in fact there was no such thing as rocket technology when Von Braun's team began their work - it all had to be created. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Production V-2's exploding in flight. The production series of V-2's are exploding in flight, and the engineers cannot determine the reason. Peenemuende engineers sought to recover 30% of the missiles for detailed examination. This showed that re-entry heating did not weaken the missile's structure. There was no scorching of the 0.6 mm thick paint applied to the interior of the missile. Only the outer paint showed signs of scorching. The missile still suffered in-flight explosions - attributed to the re-entry heating of 480 deg C and residual propellant vapours that still escaped despite the better sealing. Dornberger thought the liquid oxygen tank was the problem, while Von Braun suspected the alcohol tank. To try to determine the cause, five V-2's were shot with the engine running until all of the alcohol was depleted. These were followed by six shots with improved glass wool insulation of the liquid oxygen tank, over the objections of Riedel III, head of manufacturing at Peenemuende. Three of these shots were made in one morning, and all went off course. These were in turn followed by a series of highly instrumented launches from Peenemuende. The improvements developed as a result of these tests improved the missile reliability from 30% to 70% immediately, and then the reliability slowly increased to 80% as additional changes were made. Only in the last months of the war was it found that the forward part of the outer hull was failing in flight. Once this was strengthened with a belt of sheet metal, the V-2 achieved essentially 100% reliability.

  This entire process was going on while production was ramping up at the underground facility at Mittelwerk. There was pressure from the highest quarters to get the missile fielded and attacks on England underway. Every change resulting from these tests and research meant that the production line at Mittelwerk had to be stopped, and retrofits made to undelivered missiles. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Wehrmacht. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: Wehrmacht. Apogee: 1.00 km (0.60 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• V-2 problems begin to be understood - but Peenemuende Rocket Team leaders arrested by SS The cause of early detonation of the warhead during the engine burn time is understood, but the crashes at the end of the trajectory are still a mystery. Dornberger is ordered to report to Hitler at Berchtesgaden. The call is received at 7 pm in the evening, following a bomb raid and ice storm. Dornberger is told that on the following morning Von Braun, Riedel II, and Groettrup are to be arrested for sabotage of the A4 program. Groettrup selects Dr Steinhoff as his representative. The men are accused of not putting all their energy in development of the A4 as a weapon - instead only using the financing of the Reich to support their private plans for manned spaceflight. Dornberger know he cannot complete the program without these men - Von Braun and Riedel were the key leaders, and Groettrup was head of the electrical systems section. Dornberger finally achieves their release by demonstrating to the SS that the biggest impediment to the program was Hitler's dream that the A4 would never reach London. After a few days in detention, Von Braun was moved to Schwedt, and then freed. The others were allowed out a bit later. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Manned V-1 test flights. Geman "Reichenberg" program began for use of manned V-1's air launched from He-111's for suicide missions. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Renewed effort by the SS to take over Peenemuende The plan this time was for the launch centre to be privatised, made part of Siemens, with the SS running day-to-day operations. Dornberger was unsuccessful in fighting this effort off, and in July-August 1944 a series of government decrees gave the SS full control. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-1 first attacks. The first German V-1's fired in anger, launched from France against England with 4 of the 11 striking London. References: 17. Level: 1.

• V-3 complex at Mimoyecques irreparably damaged by Allied bombers Three 5400 kg Tallboy penetrator bpmbs went down the gun shaft openings, reached 30 m, and exploded, killing dozens of workers. Work on the complex stopped at this point. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Agency: Wehrmacht. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Me-163B first operational use. German Me-163B Komet rocket-powered fighters first attacked American bomber formations over Europe. The Me-163 had sweptback wings, Walther liquid-fuel rocket motor, speed of 590 mph, and powered flight duration of 8-10 minutes. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Agency: Wehrmacht. Apogee: 90 km (55 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Saenger antipodal bomber Spacecraft: Dynasoar. Eugen Saenger and Irene Bredt issue their final 400-page report on the Saenger antipodal bomber - a rocket boosted skip-glide spaceplane with global range. Only 100 numbered copies are printed, and distributed to German political and scientific leaders. The futuristic scheme would have taken many years to develop and was of only academic interest to the German government. But copies of the report fell into the hands of the Americans and Russians after the war, spawning major development projects in the fifties. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Obergruppenfuehrer Kammler of the SS put in charge of the V-2 program. Dornberger was relegated to command of the training batteries for the rocket troops. Von Braun spoke to Dornberger, telling him that he must accept the situation and assist Kammler. Following the July 1944 assassination and coup attempt against Hitler, Dornberger had no backing in the leadership for keeping the program in Army hands. Dornberger finally agreed to cooperate - rockets had been his life's work, and he could not bear not to be involved. Dornberger hoped to 'put my words in Kammler's mouth and make them appear to be his'. All Army commanders in the rocket program were dismissed and replaced by SS officers - Kammler was in complete control. References: 693. Level: 1.

• First production V-2 delivered. 350 missiles were delivered in September, 500 in October, and 600 to 900 per month thereafter. There were many early failures of these production missiles - they had not been built for long-term storage. The solution was to use express trains to take the missiles from the factory to the launch areas and fire them within three days of leaving the production line. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 in operation. Despite the first production deliveries, development of the missile was still not complete. The accuracy was still too poor, and the fusing was still not optimum to maximise damage at the target. Furthermore there was no method of actually determining the performance and effectiveness of missiles fired in combat, since air reconnaissance of Britain was now impossible. The only source of information was reports from agents on the ground. The availability of alcohol fuel was a limiting factor in the firing rate. Underground facilities for alcohol production had been built at Luettich and Wittringen an der Saar. Liquid oxygen was delivered to the firing areas in 48 tonne railroad wagons, then distributed to the firing units in 5 to 8 tonne capacity trucks. Due to boil off and transfer losses, 9 tonnes had to be generated at the factory in order for the 4.96 tonnes required for each rocket to be available at launch. The railroad wagons lost 350 l/day, but a V-2 on hold, awaiting launch, boiled off liquid oxygen at 2 kg/minute. Average daily launch rate from the field in the fall of 1944 was 28-30 missiles against enemy targets, together with 5 to 7 shots for research and engine tests. Kammler was only interested in maximising the number of combat launches per day - he showed no interest in the effectiveness or results of the missile as a weapon. During production, some small modifications were introduced - an increase in propellant feed rate and combustion chamber pressure, elimination of electrical equipment made unnecessary by the use of the integrating accelerometer guidance system, and an increase in propellant capacity. These changes increased the range of the production missiles to 320 km. A few research rockets with larger propellant tanks reached 480 km. The external paint used on the V-2 was protected from burning through use of a graphite coating. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 summary for September During September, the first month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were 104 to 120 combat launches, 41 training launches from Heidekraut, and 2 known test launches from Peenemuende. 629 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. See V-2 combat launches for a complete list of known combat launches. Level: 1.

• Construction of 5 prototype A4b winged V-2's completed The A-4b was a winged V-2. This resurrected work on the A-9, abandoned in 1943 to concentrate on V-2 production. The A9 was to be the second stage of an ICBM designed to reach North America. By this time in the war the intent was to extend the range of the V-2 once Allied forces pushed the German lines so far back that Britain could no longer be targeted. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Wasserfall test Apogee: 18 km (11 mi). The Wasserfall surface to air missile was launched from a table, as was the V-2. The missile was optically steered to its target, and had a potential range of 26 km and ceiling of 18 km, with a flight speed of 600 m/s. Goering observed the first launch from Test Stand IX. He was immensely fat, wearing a fantastical outfit, downing pills every five minutes, and uninterested in the proceedings. Dornberger ruefully noted that the Reich is losing the war due to the leadership's shortsightedness. They had not accepted Von Braun's rocket plans in 1939 or the Panzerfaust in 1942. They only became interested in the latter when the first American bazooka fell into German hands in Tunisia. References: 693. Level: 1.

• October V-2 results. In October, in total the Sonderkommando’s Battery 485 and Battery 444 launched 83 rockets of which 5 failed. References: 726. Level: 1.

• Work on the A9/A10 ICBM resumed under the code name Projekt Amerika, No significant hardware development was possible after the last test of the A4b upper stage in January 1945. Level: 1.

• Rheinbote tested. Apogee: 80 km (49 mi). Test batteries were set up at Heidekraut, but it was impossible to estimate the weapon's accuracy, since it proved impossible to find the small craters created by the warhead's impact in the vast dispersion area. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 summary for November During November, the third month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were 369 combat launches on the Western Front and 54 training launches from Heidekraut. 656 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. See V-2 combat launches for a complete list of known combat launches. Level: 1.

• V-2 technology targeted for Hermes. Army Ordnance made plans under the Hermes program to study the German V-2 missile. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Work resumes on train-launched A4. At Kammler's orders work resumes on getting the train-launched version of the A4 into service. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Boosted A4b test planned. 10 solid propellant rockets were delivered from the Wehrmacht to Pruefstand XII. Work was to be completed by the end of March to begin flight test of an extended-range using solid rocket boost. However Peenemuende was evacuated before the first flight test could be undertaken. Level: 1.

• Submarine-launched A4 work resumes. The first construction drawings were released for the submarine-launched version. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende rocket team faces the New Year It was for them a depressing time. The V-2 came too late to affect the outcome of the war. The years 1939-1942, when Hitler had blocked development and production of the V-2, were lost years. By this time, the Peenemuende staff was allocated as follows: 135 were working on Taifun anti-aircraft barrage rocket; 1940 were working on the V-2; 1220 were working on the Wasserfall surface-to-air missile; 270 were working on the A4b winged V-2; and 660 were in administrative positions. Meanwhile Kammler was constantly underway, trying to deploy the wonder weapons he believed would save the Reich. He could only be met at one-hour meetings at autobahn intersections, on his way from one place to another. References: 693, 727. Level: 1.

• V-2 year-end combat summary During December, the fourth month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were 447 combat launches on the Western Front and 44 training launches from Heidekraut. 618 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. Since the start of the campaign on 6 September, a total of 1591 V-2's had been launched in combat at the following targets:
  • Antwerp 924
  • London 477
  • Norwich 43
  • Luettich 27
  • Lille 25
  • Paris 19
  • Tourcoing 19
  • Maastricht 19
  • Hasselt 13
  • Tournai 9
  • Arras 6
  • Cambrai 4
  • Mons 3
  • Diest 2
  • Ipswich 1

  By the end of the year Mittelwerk had produced 4,195 missiles, less than half of which had been fired. Level: 1.

• Von Braun documents plans for future uses of rocket power. Spacecraft: Von Braun Station. As part of a summary of his work on rockets during World War II, Wernher von Braun speculated on future uses of rocket power. These included an observatory in space, the construction of space stations in earth orbit, a space mirror, and interplanetary travel, beginning with trips to the moon. References: 16. Level: 1.

• V-2 test site moved from Heidkraut in face of Russian advances. A total of 107 V-2 launches were made from Heidekraut. At the end of December Dornberger made his last visit to Heidekraut. By then the Russian Army was approaching, and the test launch area had to be moved south of Wolgast, with the impact area being in the Tucheler Heide. But in fact the test battery never shot again. It was moved to the forest near Wolgast in mid February, then again to Rethen an der Weser, with an impact area off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Arbeitstab Dornberger Speer puts Dornberger in charge of an office within the Munitions Ministry to oversee further development of the A4 and other rockets, drawing on staff from Peenemuende. Everyone knew the war would be over in a few months -- nothing could be accomplished. Kammler still made sure that Dornberger was only responsible for technical aspects. All further developments of the A4 had been on hold for years, and any further work was now impossible. Only simple things could be worked on, such as converting 6 cm smoke rockets to use as an air-to-air weapon. In the short turnaround typical of the times, the team drove to Kummersdorf and built a 21-cm diameter pipe that could fire a barrage of four smoke rockets. Two days later, it was reported back that the device was used successfully in combat, and it was put into production. It was first used against allied bombers over Schweinfurt in January 1945. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Train-launched A4 abandoned. Allied air superiority made the train-launched version unviable as a weapon, compared to the truck-towed missile, which was more easily moved and concealed. Further work on the system was abandoned. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Rheinbote in service. A battery is set up in Holland, and 200 rockets are fired on Antwerp harbour. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-3 in action. Apogee: 30 km (18 mi). Two shortened test versions of the gun with a 60 km range were used to bombard Antwerp and Luxembourg. Only a few shots were accomplished before the barrels blew up. References: 693. Level: 1.

• First meeting of Arbeitstab Dornberger in Berlin The group's first priority was to evalute the prospects for rapid development of an effective surface-to-air missile to combat the incessant Allied bombing raids. It had to be beam-riding instead of optically guided, in order to be effective at night and in bad weather. The group found there was no single 'wonder weapon' that would end the war in a few months. But Kammler still believed the Reich still could hold out for six months, enough time to develop and deploy a new weapon. Dornberger's team disagreed, but they had to try nevertheless. Therefore the Schmetterling, Wasserfall, and X4 missiles went into simultaneous final development and production. But realistically none of them could be mature enough to be sent to the front until early 1946. If the Reich could hold out that long, then it was possible it could slowly win back territory. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 summary for January During January, the fifth month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were from 574 to 620 combat launches on the Western Front. The final 19 training launches from made from Heidekraut before it was abandoned in the face of Russian advances on the Eastern Front. 700 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. See V-2 launches for a list of known combat launches. Level: 1.

• Kammler put in charge of jet engine production. In addition to responsibility for the V-weapons, Kammler was tasked with producing jet engines for manned aircraft in the northern section of the Mittelwerk. He was successful in keeping production going, but in the end, with the cities of Germany in ruins, its air bases were full of new jet fighters, but there was no fuel to operate them. There was no longer fuel for trucks, and horses had to be used for transport. There was an even bigger backlog of aircraft and missile hardware in the tunnels of Mittelwerk, but they remained there due to lack of transport. As a weapon for the jet fighters, the 5 cm R4M powder rocket was used. Each fighter had 48 of these rockets, each of which weighed 7 kg and could propel 500 g of explosive at 400 m/s to a range of 1200 to 1500 m. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Submarine-launched A4 abandoned. Evacuation of Peenemuende brought work on the submarine-towed version to an end. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Final Von Braun visit to Peenemuende All launch activity has been shut down. Level: 1.

• V-2 summary for February During February, the sixth month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were from 528 to 644 combat launches on the Western Front. 617 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. This was the peak month of the campaign and the first month that launches exceeded production. See V-2 launches for a list of known combat launches. Level: 1.

• V-2 summary for March During March, the seventh and final month of the V-2 combat campaign, there were from 617 to 775 combat launches on the Western Front. 362 missiles were manufactured at Mittelwerk. The collapse of the German rail network under allied bombing led to disruptions of supplies of component parts to Mittelwerk, of missiles from Mittelwerk to the Front, and production and distribution of rocket propellants and motor vehicle fuel needed by the launch units. By the end of the month Allied advances on the Western Front had forced all of the V-2 firing batteries to abandon their positions. See V-2 launches for a list of known combat launches. Level: 1.

• The end of the V-weapons. The V-weapon launch corps remained in service until the end of March. Then Kammler went to the Harz Mountains, to command a planned final effort to use the weapons to prevent a link-up of the American and Soviet forces - a plan that came to nothing. In all, 9,300 V-1's had been fired at Great Britain in its seven months of service, of which 6,000 reached the coast. 4,300 V-2's had been launched in combat, 1,500 at London, and 2,100 at Antwerp. 20% of these used the radio guidance system. The V-1's range had been extended in test models to 370 km, although only a few of these modifications had reached the front. On the other hand, the range of the V-2 had been extended to 350 km, and this was the version provided to the front-line troops in the last months. But at the end of March 1945 the Germans evacuated the V-weapon firing areas in Holland. References: 693. Level: 1.

• Dornberger's group evacuated to Bavaria. Kammler has the 450 scientists moved from Berlin to Oberammergau. References: 693. Level: 1.

• V-2 training and test batteries dissolved. Kammler ordered further training of troops and test launches discontinued. References: 693. Level: 1.

• American tanks reach Bleicherode at Bad Sachsen. Just ahead of the troops the rocket team's documentation was moved in a truck convoy to the south. Kammler, Dornberger, and Von Braun hold their last meeting. In Bavaria, spring is just emerging from the snow. References: 693. Level: 1.

• The end of V-2 Battery 836 and the V-2 missile campaign. Agency: V-2 Bty 836. After being forced to retreat from its operational area in late March 1945, Battery 836 was to have moved first to a location 16 km west of Osnabruck for firing operations, but the situation on the ground prevented this. They then moved to Celle (about 30 km north of Hanover). From there the remaining rockets were to be fired against Russian forces at Kostrzyn, 100 km northeast of Berlin. The unit could not set up in time to accomplish this before Kammler ordered the rocket units to be dissolved and convert to infantry. On April 8 the battery destroyed its rockets and launching equipment and ceased to exist. In all, 1593 V-2's had been fired against Antwerp, 1225 against London, and 461 against other cities and targets, by one accounting. A total of 3000 to 3280 missiles had been fired in combat launches, and another 440 to 1000 in test and training launches. A total of 6,100 missiles had been manufactured, at least 1,800 of which were early production versions that were either scrapped or cannibalised for later production. References: 726. Level: 1.

• Peenemuende rocket team contacts American forces English-speaker Magnus Von Braun is sent to contact US forces in order to surrender the German rocket team to the Americans. Level: 1.

• Soviet Army occupies Peenemuende. Little is found. Western intelligence is convinced that the Soviets conduct missile tests from Peenemuende in the late 1940's (the Scandinavian 'ghost rockets'). But Russian historical sources available after the downfall of the Soviet Union do not support this belief. References: 47. Level: 1.

• Germany surrenders Level: 1.

• V-3 complex at Mimoyecques blown up by British Forces The action was taken to prevent the French from using the facility against Britain at some future date. References: 693. Level: 1.

• American recover 14 tonnes of V-2 documentation The German rocket team provides directions to the Americans to the mine in the Harz Mountains where they have hidden the technical documentation taken from Peenemuende. Level: 1.

• Soviets occupy Mittelwerk. The Americans withdraw from the Soviet zone, having taken key V-2 tooling and parts. Level: 1.

• Von Braun in America Von Braun and a small contingent fly to Fort Bliss, Texas. Over 100 Peenemuende rocket engineers will follow by sea. Level: 1.

• V-2 flight tests in US initiated. U.S. upper atmosphere research program initiated with captured German V-2 rockets. A V-2 panel of representatives of various interested agencies was created, and a total of more than 60 V-2's were fired before the supply ran out. The Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University then undertook to develop a medium-altitude rocket, the Aerobee, while the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) directed its efforts to the development of a large high-altitude rocket, first called the Neptune, later the Viking. References: 17. Level: 1.

• V-2 static fired First American-assembled V-2 static fired at White Sands Proving Ground. Level: 1.

• V-2's to be tested in Soviet Union. Council of Soviet Ministers (SM) Decree 2643-818ss 'On testing of two series of A-4 rockets in 1947' was issued. The missiles were to be fired at the new rocket test ground at Kapustin Yar ('Volgograd Station') . References: 474. Level: 1.

• V-2 project winding down. V-2 Upper Atmosphere Research Panel, representing all U.S. interested agencies, was renamed the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Berlin blockade begins Level: 1.

• German Democratic Republic (East Germany) established under Soviet rule Level: 1.

• VfR resurrected. VfR, the German Rocket Society disestablished by Hitler in 1933, passed resolution calling for international conference of all astronautical societies. References: 17. Level: 1.

• Die Aussenstation Spacecraft: Aussenstation. At the second annual congress of the International Astronautical Federation in London, H. H. Koelle described 'Die Aussenstation' as part of a paper on 'Der Einfluss der Konstruktiven Gestaltung der Aussenstation auf die Gesamtkosten des Projektes (The Influence of the Layout of the Satellite on the Overall Cost of the Project).' Koelle's paper represented the most realistic appraisal so far of the problems of design and construction of a space station. He dealt with problems of payload limitation, orbital assembly, limitations on the crew in the space environment, and national and economic factors behind space station growth. In Koelle's view, such a station might be used for scientific investigations of Earth's upper atmosphere, weather observation, astrophysical research, and human and chemical research in a zero-gravity environment. Also, such a station might serve as a communications and navigation link with the ground and as a station for launching more distant space missions. He suggested a large circular structure consisting of 36 separate 5-m spheres arranged around a central hub, the whole structure rotating to provide an artificial gravity environment to offset physiological effects of prolonged weightlessness on the crew. One of the unique elements in Koelle's scheme was assembly of various parts of the station launched via separate rockets, with each segment being a complete structure. In this way the station could be made operational before fabrication was completed, and subsequent expansion of the structure could take place whenever desired. Total personnel complement of the station would range from 50 to 65 people. Koelle even estimated the cost of such a project: $518 million for construction and $620 million over an operational lifetime of six months. Level: 1.

• First launches from Spaceport Cuxhaven Cuxhaven saw its first use as the 'Gateway to Space'. The DRG (German Rocket Society)'s 'Rocket Flight Day' started out with 7 firings of the 'oilspray' rocket to ranges of 100 to 300 m. The terrible weather served to demonstrate their function admirably. This was followed by a launch to 100 to 2000 m altitude of several small model rockets. This was followed by delta-winged rocket built by Koschmieder, which reached 3000 m and was recovered by parachute. Next was a prototype 20 kg meteorological rocket using a new solid propellant developed by Deutsche Dynamit AG. This produced 1500 kgf and reached Mach 1.5. The rocket rose to 4000 m but the recovery parachute deployed early and the meteorological instruments were not recovered. Finally a test of the first of Ernst Mohr's big rockets was planned. The rocket had 50 kg of propellant, produced 5 tonnes thrust, and was to have reached Mach 1.5 at burnout and an altitude of 20,000 m. However the launch was cancelled due to bad weather. Level: 1.

• Mohr Rocket launch attempts First attempt to launch Ernst Morhr's larege meteorological rocket. The rocket had a total mass of 150 kg, consisting of 75 kg propellant, 60 kg structure, and 15 kg payload. The motor produced 7800 kgf for 2 seconds. The rocket was 30 cm in diameter, 1.7 m long, and had a payload dart 56 mm in diameter and 1.25 m long. Three attempts were made to launch. Two hung up on the launcher, and the third was unstable after launch and crashed near the launcher. Level: 1.

• Mohr Rocket reaches 50 km altitude Three launches were made from Arensch, including two successful launches of the prototype of the large meteorological rocket developed by Ernst Mohr of Wuppertall. The launches were witnessed by Vice-President Ross. The redesigned Mohr rockets were 2.5 m long, 30 cm in diameter, had a total mass of 80 kg and produced 7.8 tonnes thrust. Cutoff velocity was 1200 m/s at 1200 m altitude. The payload dart then separated and coasted up to 50 km altitude. It was later planned to install meteorological instruments on these rockets. Level: 1.

• First DRG Rocket Mail First launches from Arensch to Berensch of DRG (German Rocket Society) 'postcard rockets'. 100 would be launched in the next two years. Ten launches were made carrying 5000 postcards. The subsonic 5 kg rockets were 2 m long, produced 50 kgf thrust, were recovered under three or four parachutes, and had an average accuracy of 130 m over a 3 km range. Level: 1.

• First Kumulus launch The first launch of a Kumulus rocket is made to 15 km altitude carrying a radio-transmitter built by Professor Max Ehmert of the Max Planck Institute. The rocket had a mass of 30.3 kg, produced 508 kgf, and reached 700 m/s. However due to the batteries becoming too cold during launch preparations, the transmitter did not function and the rocket could not be tracked. Level: 1.

• Kumulus rocket reaches 19.75 km The DRG (German Rocket Society) launched four MVR-I rockets on Saturday and two on Sunday. The Saturday launches were tracked to an altitude of 15 km and impacted 15 to 30 km from the launch point in the North Sea. The rockets were 18 cm in diameter, 2 m long, and had a mass of 24 kg. One of the Sunday launches reached 19,750 m altitude with a meteorological payload built by the Max Planck Institute. The rocket had a thrust of 508 kgf and weighted 19.9 kg. German television covered the launches. Level: 1.

• Rocket mail delivered to Neuwerk The DRG (German Rocket Society) launched a 40 kg rocket over a range of 14 km to the island of Neuwerk. The missile had a thrust of 508 kgf and took 30 seconds to cover the distance. 5000 postcards were carried. This fulfilled a 28 year old plan for such a rocket flight. Level: 1.

• Rocket mail delivered to Scharhoern The DRG (German Rocket Society) launches two 3-m long, 51.9 kg, 600 kgf thrust Kumulus rockets from Arensch over the sea 18 km to the flats of the island of Scharhoern. The trip was made in 28 seconds at a top speed of 850 m/s with a payload of 5000 postcards weighing 15 kg. Level: 1.

• East Germans erect Berlin Wall between East and West Berlin to halt flood of refugees Level: 1.

• Cirrus rocket reaches 50 km altitude The first Cirrus rockets are launched. Cirrus I, a two stage rocket, with each stage providing 508 kgf, reached a velocity of 750 m/s (Mach 2.5) and 35 km altitude. Cirrus II, 4.155 m long, with a thrust of 1.8 tonnes, reached 1000 m/s and an altitude of 50 km. Kumulus I and II took biological specimens aloft. Each Kumulus had a mass of 28 kg, was 3 m long, produced 508 kgf, and reached 750 m/s, Mach 2.0. Kumulus I carried the Mexican salamander Lotte to an altitude of 12 km. Lotte landed safely in the Cuxhaven flats. Kumulus II took the goldfish Max to an altitude of 15 km, but Max, enclosed in a plexiglass globe, made a hard landing. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 35 km (21 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 50 km (31 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Rocket mail at Cuxhaven The DRG (German Rocket Society) made postal launches from spaceport Cuxhaven. Level: 1.

• Seliger rocket reaches 40 km Berthold Seliger made the first launches of his rockets from Cuxhaven. Three 3.4 m long, single stage rockets reached altitudes of 40 km. The on-board transmitters were tracked by the Bochum Observatory. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 40 km (24 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DRG launches at Cuxhaven The DRG (German Rocket Society) launched three model rockets but they fell in the flats and were not recovered. Level: 1.

• Seliger rockets reach 80 km. Seliger launched three rockets. The 3.4 m long single stage version reached an altitude of 52 km, and the 6.0 m long two stage version reached 80 km. Each stage had a thrust of 5000 kgf. Bochum Observatory tracked the radio transmitters of the payloads during their ascent. The wreckage of the missiles was found on the flats. Seliger announced plans to launch a three-stage rocket to 150 km altitude. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 80 km (49 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 52 km (32 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 80 km (49 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Seliger rocket reaches 120 km altitude. Seliger launched his 12.8 m long, three-stage rocket at an attempt to reach an altitude of 150 km. The effects of his contracts with the military were apparent. The 74th Panzer batallion at Altenwalde provided security, field communications, two jeeps as command posts, and a helicopter to search for the missile after the flight. The first launch of the day was that of a single-stage rocket to 50 km altitude. The mission was to measure high altitude winds and test the new parachute recovery system. The payload was successfully recovered in Wernerwald. Preparation of the three stage rocket took three hours, leading up to the planned 16:00 launch time. The 6 m long rocket lifted off at 16:03 but only reached an altitude of 120 km. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 50 km (31 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• First Cuxhaven military launches The first military launches were made from Cuxhaven since the Backfire V-2 launches of 1945. Seliger, under contract to Waffen und Luftruestung AG (Weapons and Air Development Inc) of Hamburg launched a test rocket. The altitude was restricted to 30 km by a new regulation of the Lower Saxony Economy and Trade Ministry. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: DRG. Apogee: 30 km (18 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Death of Eugen Saenger Saenger dies of a heart attack in Berlin while lecturing to his students at the Technical University in Berlin References: 47. Level: 1.

• DRG launches at Cuxhaven The DRG (German Rocket Society) conducted a series of ten student model rocket test launches. Some of these tested a new airbrake mechanism for recovery of the rocket in lieu of a parachute. Level: 1.

• Further use of Cuxhaven for rocket launches banned. The DRG (German Rocket Society) planned a new series of rocket launches but found further launches throughout the Germany due to a new regulation prohibiting such launches over 100 m altitude. This rule was enacted when a student was killed at Braunlage in Lower Saxony during a rocket experiment by Gerhard Zucker. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release Aeronomy / Barium release mission Agency: MPI. Apogee: 390 km (240 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release Aeronomy / Barium release mission Agency: MPI. Apogee: 391 km (242 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-1 Aurora / barium release mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 231 km (143 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-2 Aurora / barium release mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 237 km (147 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• GRS Test Technology / plasma mission Agency: NASA/DFVLR. Apogee: 1,100 km (600 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• GRS Test Technology / plasma mission Agency: NASA/DFVLR. Apogee: 991 km (615 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release Magnetosphere mission Agency: NRCC. Apogee: 448 km (278 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release EXP-32 Aeronomy mission Agency: FRG. Apogee: 258 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release Magnetosphere mission Agency: NRCC. Apogee: 287 km (178 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-7 Aeronomy / ionosphere / Fields mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 235 km (146 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-6 Aeronomy / plasma mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 206 km (128 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release EXP-34 Aeronomy / ionosphere mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 216 km (134 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-9 Aeronomy / ionosphere / Fields mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-10 Aurora mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-12 Meteorites mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 183 km (113 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-BB3-14 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 167 km (103 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Ferdinand 17 Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: NTNF. Apogee: 10 km (6 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BB4 Magnetospheric mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 700 km (430 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-BB3-16 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 165 km (102 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 600 km (370 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy mission Agency: NRCC. Apogee: 158 km (98 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-BB3-15 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 170 km (100 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Mass spectrometer Aeronomy mission Agency: NRCC. Apogee: 100 km (60 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-11 Aeronomy / ionosphere / Fields mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 226 km (140 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-17 Aeronomy / ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 233 km (144 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-18 Aeronomy / ionosphere / Fields mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 231 km (143 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Azur Payload: GRS A. Mass: 71 kg (156 lb). Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere. Spacecraft: AZUR. Agency: DFVLR. Perigee: 373 km (231 mi). Apogee: 2,127 km (1,321 mi). Inclination: 102.70 deg. Period: 110.50 min. COSPAR: 1969-097A. USAF Sat Cat: 4221. German Research Satellite A; examined Van Allen belts, solar particles, aurora. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• DLR N-J-19 Ionosphere mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 800 km (490 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-J-20 Ionosphere mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 800 km (490 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBV-23 Synove Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 202 km (125 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBV-25 Evelyn Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 223 km (138 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBV-24 Monica Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 210 km (130 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBV-27 Chr'ine Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 217 km (134 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBV-26 Inger Aeronomy / ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 161 km (100 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DIAL-WIKA Payload: DIAL Wissenschaftliche Kapsel. Mass: 63 kg (138 lb). Class: Technology. Spacecraft: Dial WIKA. Agency: CNES/BMw. Perigee: 301 km (187 mi). Apogee: 1,631 km (1,013 mi). Inclination: 5.40 deg. Period: 104.20 min. COSPAR: 1970-017A. USAF Sat Cat: 4344. Decay Date: 1978-10-05. Engineering package. References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BB4-28 Eva Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 650 km (400 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BB4-29 Gerda Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 665 km (413 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-30 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-31 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-33 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-32 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-34 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR S-CR-22 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 288 km (178 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-NA-35 Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR W-NT-36 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 270 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR W-NT-37 Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 270 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release / Brigitte Ionosphere / fields mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 328 km (203 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MPE Barium release / Erika Ionosphere / fields mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 276 km (171 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BBV-42 Aurora / ionosphere mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 250 km (150 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BBV-41 Aeronomy / ionosphere mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 223 km (138 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR C-FFK-45 test Agency: DLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR C-FFK-46 test Agency: DLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-ZC-48 Astrik Ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 144 km (89 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeros 1 Payload: GRS B. Mass: 127 kg (279 lb). Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere. Spacecraft: Aeros. Agency: DFVLR. Perigee: 223 km (138 mi). Apogee: 867 km (538 mi). Inclination: 96.90 deg. Period: 95.60 min. COSPAR: 1972-100A. USAF Sat Cat: 6315. Decay Date: 1973-08-22. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BBVC-52 Aeronomy / ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 308 km (191 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BBVC-54 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 211 km (131 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR N-BBVC-53 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 315 km (195 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBVC-51 Erna Aeronomy /ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 305 km (189 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BBVC-49 Barbara Aeronomy /ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 260 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-GR-57 Test/Ultraviolet Astronomy/Astrophysics mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 186 km (115 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-GR-56 Optical astronomy / ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 260 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Ion beam Ionosphere mission Agency: MPE. Apogee: 406 km (252 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 650 km (400 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-GR-55 Optical astronomy / ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 246 km (152 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-GR-58 X-ray astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 246 km (152 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-BB4-63 Auroral mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 548 km (340 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR C-FFK-47 test Agency: DLR. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeros 2 Payload: Aeros B. Mass: 127 kg (279 lb). Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere. Spacecraft: Aeros. Agency: DFVLR. Perigee: 224 km (139 mi). Apogee: 869 km (539 mi). Inclination: 97.50 deg. Period: 95.60 min. COSPAR: 1974-055A. USAF Sat Cat: 7371. Decay Date: 1975-09-25. Upper atmospheric research. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B). References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• Test mission Agency: FRG. Apogee: 254 km (157 mi). Failed to reach expected altitude. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Helios 1 Mass: 370 kg (810 lb). Class: Solar. Spacecraft: Helios. Agency: DFVLR. COSPAR: 1974-097A. USAF Sat Cat: 7567. Solar probe. Solar Orbit (Heliocentric). Launched by the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany. Helios A (Helios I). Heliocentric orbit 190 days, 0.309 x 0.985 AU x 0 deg. Exploration of the interplanetary space between the earth and the sun and study of solar influences on that area. References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• DLR G-BB4-64 PolCusp Ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 280 km (170 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR G-BB4-65 PolCusp Ionosphere mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR W-GR-67 Solar x-ray mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 270 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Ionosphere mission Agency: MPE. Apogee: 400 km (240 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Ionosphere mission Agency: MPE. Apogee: 400 km (240 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-GR-68 (Astro 7) Ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 254 km (157 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy / test Agency: FRG. Apogee: 240 km (140 mi). Failed to reach expected altitude. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Winter Anomaly B-IV-1 Aeronomy / ionosphere / solar ultraviolet mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 129 km (80 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Winter Anomaly B-II-1 Aeronomy / ionosphere / solar ultraviolet / x-ray mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 116 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Helios 2 Mass: 376 kg (828 lb). Class: Solar. Spacecraft: Helios. Agency: DFVLR. COSPAR: 1976-003A. USAF Sat Cat: 8582. Solar probe. Solar Orbit (Heliocentric). Spacecraft engaged in practical applications and uses of space technology such as weather or communication (US Cat C). References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• INTA MNAE-7602 / BIV-2 Aeronomy / ionosphere mission Agency: DLR/NTNF. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Winter Anomaly B-II-2 Aeronomy / ionosphere / solar ultraviolet / x-ray mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 116 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR H-BB4-74 Extreme ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-AR-75 Porc. F1 Magnetospheric mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 360 km (220 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Closest Ever Flyby of the Sun by Spacecraft (Helios 2) Spacecraft: Helios. Level: 1.

• DLR H-BB4B-76 Extreme ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 700 km (430 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-GR-78 Eveline Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 277 km (172 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-GR-79 Silvia Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 272 km (169 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-GR-80 Georgine Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 256 km (159 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-NA-83 Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 200 km (120 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR A-GR-81 Christ. Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 263 km (163 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR K-AR-82 Porc. F2 Magnetospheric mission Agency: NASA/DLR. Apogee: 460 km (280 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Otrag Flight 1 Agency: OTRAG. Apogee: 15 km (9 mi). Four-module test vehicle, 6 m long. Propulsion test. Reached 20 km altitude. 100% successful. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Heatpipe 2 Technology mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 322 km (200 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• T / NL 3A Dagmar Aurora mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 536 km (333 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• T / NL 1B Aurora mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 541 km (336 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 1 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 265 km (164 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• T / NL 2D Susanne Aurora mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 541 km (336 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• T / NL 4C Gitti Aurora mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 540 km (330 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Otrag Flight 2 Agency: OTRAG. Apogee: 30 km (18 mi). Four-module test vehicle, 6 m long. High altitude night test. Reached 150 km altitude. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Otrag Flight 3 Agency: OTRAG. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). Four module test vehicle, 12 m long. Pitch and yaw control test. Attempt to reach 100 km, but veered off course on launch due to a valve on one unit being stuck at 50% thrust. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Astro 8-2 X-ray astronomy / microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 355 km (220 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 2 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 265 km (164 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Astro 4-2 X-ray Astronomy Telescope mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 192 km (119 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Astro 4-1 Solar x-ray mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 258 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Spread F Barium release mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Spread F Barium release mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 268 km (166 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Astro-Hel Far ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 829 km (515 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Natal 6 test Agency: DLR. Apogee: 140 km (80 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Natal 6 test Agency: DLR. Apogee: 140 km (80 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 3A Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 253 km (157 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• EBC-C E6C Ionosphere / aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 198 km (123 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• EBC-B E6A1 S10.12-1 Ionosphere / aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 165 km (102 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• EBC-B E2 (ENERGY EB1) Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 231 km (143 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 3B Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 253 km (157 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 4 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 258 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• EBC81 E2 (ENERGY EB2) Ionosphere / plasma mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 237 km (147 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 5 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 256 km (159 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 6 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 256 km (159 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Strafam 1 / 2 Technology / aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 114 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Conestoga 1 test Agency: SSI/DLR. Apogee: 309 km (192 mi). Launch vehicle using surplus Minuteman I components. The launch from Matagorda Island for was for publicity purposes and unrelated to Space Service's other planned launch vehicles, also named Conestoga. References: 2. Level: 1.

• Colored Bubbles Ionosphere mission Agency: DLR/US. Apogee: 335 km (208 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Colored Bubbles Ionosphere mission Agency: DLR/US. Apogee: 335 km (208 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 7 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 227 km (141 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 8 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 264 km (164 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Oscar 10 Program: Oscar. Payload: Phase 3B. Mass: 70 kg (154 lb). Class: Communications. Type: Amateur Radio. Spacecraft: Oscar. Agency: AMSAT-DL. Perigee: 4,007 km (2,489 mi). Apogee: 35,442 km (22,022 mi). Inclination: 27.20 deg. Period: 699.50 min. COSPAR: 1983-058B. USAF Sat Cat: 14129. AMSAT Oscar 10, registration no D-R 001. Scientific and communication satellite for the amateur radio service. Frequency plan: Transponder U: 435.1 MHz (uplink), 145.9 MHz (downlink), Bandwidth +/- 75 kHz. Transponder L: 1269.45 MHz (uplink), 436.55 MHz ( downlink), bandwidth +/- 400 kHz. Two beacons adjacent to passband. Launch vehicle Ariane L6. First amateur satellite with onboard propulsion (which did not function entirely correctly, due to collision with launch vehicle after separation - hence the not-quite-Molniya-orbit). Computer control failed December 1986 due to radiation damage to memory. As a result, ground control stations have no control over the spacecraft. However, when the orientation is favourable (with respect to the Earth and Sun), OSCAR 10 continues to provide good Mode B service. If users coorperate, OSCAR 10 may provide many more years of service. Project Management: AMSAT-NA (Jan King, W3GEY) and AMSAT-DL (Karl Meinzer, DJ4ZC). Spacecraft sub-systems: Contributed by groups in Canada, Hungary, Japan, United States and West Germany. Spacecraft: Spin Stabilised with Magnetorquers: Power: 50 W solar array, 2 NiCd batteries. Payload: Transponders/Beacons: Mode B: Type: Linear, inverting, 50W; General Beacon: 145.809 MHz (Carrier); Engineering Beacon: 145.987 MHz; Uplink: 435.030-435.180 MHz; Downlink: 145.975-145.825 MHz. Mode L (no longer operational): Type: Linear, inverting, 50W: Beacons: 436.020, 436.040 MHz; Uplink 1269.450 MHz (800 kHz); Downlink 436.550 MHz. References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• M-F 1 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 75 km (46 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 2 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 3 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 108 km (67 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 4 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 103 km (64 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 5 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 6 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 113 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 7 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 106 km (65 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 8 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 108 km (67 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 9 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 113 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 10 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 11 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 119 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 13 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 119 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 14 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 15 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 119 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 16 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 17 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 20 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 117 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 21 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 119 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 24 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 19 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 22 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 116 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 23 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 121 km (75 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 25 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 26 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 116 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 27 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 104 km (64 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 33 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 30 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 110 km (60 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 32 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 112 km (69 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 31 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 113 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 28 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 116 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 29 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 34 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 35 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 113 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 36 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 112 km (69 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 37 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• CAESAR I Auroral mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 700 km (430 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 38 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 110 km (60 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 40 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 39 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 41 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 114 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 42 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 121 km (75 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 43 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 111 km (68 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MAP / WINE M-I 1 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 180 km (110 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 45 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 114 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 44 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 109 km (67 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 46 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 111 km (68 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 47 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 112 km (69 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 48 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 114 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 49 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 117 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 50 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 114 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 54 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 118 km (73 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 53 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 108 km (67 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 52 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• M-F 55 Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 117 km (72 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 115 km (71 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 9 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 258 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 10 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 216 km (134 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• AMPTE 2 Payload: AMPTE-IRM Ion Release Module 1. Mass: 605 kg (1,333 lb). Class: Earth. Type: Magnetosphere. Spacecraft: AMPTE. Agency: DLR. Perigee: 402 km (249 mi). Apogee: 113,818 km (70,723 mi). Inclination: 27.00 deg. Period: 2,653.40 min. COSPAR: 1984-088B. USAF Sat Cat: 15200. Decay Date: 1987-12-08. Released barium, lithium ions into magnetosphere for detection by CCE, UKS. AMPTE-Ion Release Module, reg. no. D-R 002. Scientific research on the Earth's magnetosphere and plasma physics, in particular active experimentation by releasing ion clouds of lithium or barium (total of 7) in and outside the magnetosphere. Creation of a n artificial comet (1 barium cloud inside the magnetosheath). Diagnosis and experimentation in conjunction with the simultaneously launched satellites CCE (United States) and UKS (United Kingdom). References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• CAESAR 2 Auroral mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 703 km (436 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Interzodiak 1 Extreme ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 11 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 266 km (165 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 12 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 253 km (157 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 13 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 246 km (152 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 14A Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 250 km (150 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 14B Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 250 km (150 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 15 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 252 km (156 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• DLR Astronaut Training Group 1 selected. German astronaut trained for flights to the Mir space station. Level: 1.

• Supernova X-ray telescope mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 270 km (160 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Aeronomy mission Agency: NASA. Apogee: 140 km (80 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• MAC / E Aeronomy mission Agency: DLR. Apogee: 140 km (80 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TVSAT 1 Program: TVSAT. Payload: TV-Sat 1. Mass: 2,077 kg (4,579 lb). Class: Communications. Spacecraft: Spacebus 300. Agency: Bundespo. Perigee: 36,066 km (22,410 mi). Apogee: 36,151 km (22,463 mi). Inclination: 4.30 deg. Period: 1,452.60 min. COSPAR: 1987-095A. USAF Sat Cat: 18570. Completed Operations Date: 1989-02-01. West German communications; solar panel failed to deploy making spacecraft unusable. Because of a malfunction of the solar generator, the satellite is being used only for technical tests. Geostationary position 19 W. Launch by Ariane-2 flight no. 20. Due to a malfunction of the solar generator, TV-SAT 1 was taken out of commission and sen t to a so-called parking orbit beyond the geostationary orbit. Semi-major axis 42485.605 km. Eccentricity 0.00116. Inc 0.716, Arg of perigee 216.66, RA 76.77, Mean anomaly 47.1 Mean drift -4.071 deg/day, E long 350.617, latitude -0.713. Positioned in geosynchronous orbit at 18 deg W in 1988 As of 5 September 2001 located at 76.53 deg W drifting at 4.886 deg W per day. As of 2007 Mar 11 located at 169.62W drifting at 4.874W degrees per day. References: 2, 6. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 16 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 0 km ( mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 17 Microgravity mission Agency: MBB. Apogee: 285 km (177 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 18 Microgravity mission Agency: MBB. Apogee: 265 km (164 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Testflug (BAE 1) test Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 262 km (162 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• Interzodiak 2 Extreme ultraviolet astronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 857 km (532 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• ROSE I Aeronomy / ionosphere / Fields mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 120 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 19 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 244 km (151 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 20 Microgravity mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 238 km (147 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• ROSE II Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 113 km (70 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• ROSE III Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 124 km (77 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• ROSE IV Aeronomy mission Agency: DFVLR. Apogee: 125 km (77 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.

• TEXUS 21 Microgravity mission Agency: MBB. Apogee: 268 km (166 mi). References: 2. Level: 1.