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The Verein für Raumschiffahrt ("''VfR''", ) was a German amateur 
In September 1930, before Hitler came to power, the VfR requested funding from the German army. Rockets were one of the few types of military development not restricted by the Versailles treaty at the end of
the Berlin rocket launching site (). For three years the VfR launched increasingly powerful rockets of their own design from this location. Following the unsuccessful Mirak rockets, the most powerful rocket of the Repulsor series (named for a spaceship in a German novel by Kurd Lasswitz) reached altitudes over 1 km (3,000 ft). In the spring of 1932, Capt Walter Dornberger, his commander (Captain Ritter von Horstig), and Col Karl Heinrich Emil Becker viewed a (failed) VfR launch, and Dornberger subsequently issued a contract for a demonstration launch. Wernher von Braun, who was then a young student and had joined the group two years earlier, was in favor of the contract The group eventually rejected the proposalDr. Space - The Life of Werner von Braun
() pp 17. and the dissension caused during its consideration contributed to the society dissolving itself in January 1934. The society's demise was also the result of an inability to find funding, and Berlin's civic authorities becoming concerned with rocketry experiments so close to the city. The only known VfR rocket artifact is a rejected aluminium Repulsor nozzle which member Herbert Schaefer took to the US when he emigrated in 1935 and which he donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1978.
rocket
A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
association prior to World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
that included members outside Germany. The first successful VfR test firing with liquid fuel (five minutes) was conducted by Max Valier at the Heylandt Works on January 25, 1930; and additional rocket experiments were conducted at a farm near Bernstadt, Saxony.
Space travel and rocketry gained popularity in Germany after the June 1923 publication of Herman Oberth's book '' Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' () and the expanded 1929 work '' Wege zur Raumschiffahrt'' (''Ways to Spaceflight'').
The VfR was founded in 1927 by Johannes Winkler, with Max Valier and Willy Ley after their participation as expert advisers for Fritz Lang
Friedrich Christian Anton Lang (; December 5, 1890 – August 2, 1976), better known as Fritz Lang (), was an Austrian-born film director, screenwriter, and producer who worked in Germany and later the United States.Obituary ''Variety Obituari ...
's early science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
film '' Frau im Mond'' (''The Woman in the Moon''). Ley and Hermann Oberth had hoped to receive funding from Lang for a real-life experimental rocket launch coinciding with the movie's premiere. Valier had assisted in Fritz von Opel's rocket-powered publicity stunt
In marketing, a publicity stunt is a planned event designed to attract the public's attention to the event's organizers or their cause. Publicity stunts can be professionally organized, or set up by amateurs. Such events are frequently utiliz ...
s for the Opel
Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...
company.
In September 1930, before Hitler came to power, the VfR requested funding from the German army. Rockets were one of the few types of military development not restricted by the Versailles treaty at the end of World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, 11 years earlier. They received permission from the municipality to use an abandoned ammunition dump at Reinickendorfbr>the Berlin rocket launching site (). For three years the VfR launched increasingly powerful rockets of their own design from this location. Following the unsuccessful Mirak rockets, the most powerful rocket of the Repulsor series (named for a spaceship in a German novel by Kurd Lasswitz) reached altitudes over 1 km (3,000 ft). In the spring of 1932, Capt Walter Dornberger, his commander (Captain Ritter von Horstig), and Col Karl Heinrich Emil Becker viewed a (failed) VfR launch, and Dornberger subsequently issued a contract for a demonstration launch. Wernher von Braun, who was then a young student and had joined the group two years earlier, was in favor of the contract The group eventually rejected the proposal
() pp 17. and the dissension caused during its consideration contributed to the society dissolving itself in January 1934. The society's demise was also the result of an inability to find funding, and Berlin's civic authorities becoming concerned with rocketry experiments so close to the city. The only known VfR rocket artifact is a rejected aluminium Repulsor nozzle which member Herbert Schaefer took to the US when he emigrated in 1935 and which he donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1978.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verein fur Raumschiffahrt 1927 establishments in Germany 1933 disestablishments in Germany History of Wrocław History of spaceflight Scientific organizations established in 1927 Organizations disestablished in 1933 Weimar culture