Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) probably was the most important pioneer of space science and rocket technology.
In his works “The Rocket into Planetary Space” (1923 - ) and „Ways to Spaceflight” (1929 - )
Inspired by reading Jules Verne’s moon novels and his own astronomical observations, Oberth had already begun to work out his first rocket plans as a high school student. Medical self-experiments already confirmed to him in 1916 that people are up to the stresses of a space flight. During his physics studies (in Munich, Göttingen and Heidelberg), he wrote the manuscript for his first work “The Rocket to Planetary Spaces” in 1922.
In 1928/29, Oberth supported UfA star director Fritz Lang as a scientific advisor in the production of the world’s first space film “Woman in the Moon”. This silent film represents the culmination of a broad rocket and space enthusiasm triggered significantly by Oberth during the Weimar Republic.
Prof. Ernst Stuhlinger, long-time chief scientist at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, summarized the importance of Oberth’s basic work in 1984 as follows:
“The Rocket into Planetary Space”, despite the brevity of the book, became an epochal work of rocket development.
Today, the thin volume is still a gold mine for the historian of rocket technology and space travel. Oberth brought up almost all aspects of craftsmanship or at least to the picture. Rocket theory, combustion, pump and pressure-supported systems, construction of tanks, cryogenic fuels, thermal insulation, combustion chamber cooling, veil cooling, cooling by fuel surplus, air and thrusters, swivel motors, gyro control, accelerometers, integration devices, control and steering systems, trajectory calculation methods, aerodynamics, flight mechanics, Optimization of the ascent track, space medicine, spacecraft cabins, life under weightlessness, meteorite danger, braking and parachute landing - Hermann Oberth had thought of everything.
No less complete today is his list of proposals to use rockets and satellites for useful purposes. He mentions meteorological observations, news transmission, radio connection with ships and inaccessible stations on the mainland, earth observations, radio relay stations, astronomy, astronautic research, solar and planetary research, and space sciences in general. He recommends satellite stations, thirty years before the introduction of television, “for the newspaper service”.
In his modest but equally far-sighted manner, he adds: “Entering foreign world bodies would certainly have high scientific value. However, I do not want to go into this subject at this point.”
