1932 - Exploration, Colonization

Exploration, Colonization

The German Army places engineer Capt. Walter R. (Robert) Dornberger, 36, in charge of the Reichswehr's research station at the Kummersdorf Proving Grounds just south of Berlin, with instructions to perfect the rocket engine as a potential weapon (see Oberth, 1931). Berlin Institute of Technology graduate Wernher (Magnus Maximilian) von Braun, 20, has assisted Hermann Oberth in his liquid-fueled rocket motor tests during his spare time. Dornberger arranges a research grant for Braun from the Ordnance Department, and when Braun receives his Ph.D. from the University of Berlin in 1934 his dissertation will (for security reasons) be entitled simply "About Combustion Tests," but it will contain data on theoretical investigation and actual experiments with 300- to 660-pound-thrust rocket engines. By December 1934 Braun's group will have launched two rockets that rose nearly two and a half kilometers (one and a half miles) into the atmosphere, but rocket tests will have been forbidden by decree, and further research will be possible only through the army (see Tsiolkovsky, 1935; politics [first guided missile], 1942).