ADVENTURE SPACE TRAVEL "Because that is the goal: To secure any place on which life can exist and prosper, give life to any dead world, and to give purpose to any living world"  Hermann Oberth  "Men into Space"  1954

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Hermann Oberth was born on June 25, 1894 in Hermannstadt (Transylvania), and died on December 28, 1989 in Nuremberg, Germany. His final years were spent in the borough of Feucht in the vicinity of Nuremberg.

Oberth was probably the most important pioneer of space technology. His early books "The Rocket into Interplanetary Space" (1923), and "Ways to Travel in Space" (1929), established the scientific basis for a technology, that enabled mankind to leave the planet earth. Almost any of our present space projects, from the first rockets and satellites, to the landing on the moon, interplanetary probes, international manned space-stations, and reusable space-ferries are anticipated and discussed in these books.

Inspired by the science-fiction novels of Jules Verne, Oberth designed his first rockets while still a student at the local gymnasium. Various medical experiments that he conducted on himself convinced him that humans could endure the physical stresses of space travel, such as weightlessness, forces of acceleration, etc.

From 1928 to 1929 Oberth was in Berlin, working as a scientific consultant for the UFA-Film Co., which under the direction of Fritz Lang, produced the first space movie of the world: "Women on the Moon". The latter helped tremendously to popularize the new science of rocketry.

In the Fall of 1929 Oberth fired his first liquid rocket engine, the socalled "Kegeldüse". In these experiments he was supported by students of the Technical University of Berlin. One of them was Wernher von Braun, who soon became technical director of the Army-Rocket-Test-Center in Berlin-Kummersdorf, and then in Peenemünde. The design of the first modern large rocket, the "A4", better known as the "V2", utilized 95 of Oberth's inventions and suggestions.

In the forties and fifties more publications founded Oberth's worldwide appreciation as "Father of Space Travel". From 1955 to 1959 he worked in Huntsville/Alabama under his former "pupil", Wernher von Braun, who had become the technical director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.

Like no other space-pioneer Oberth realized not only the scientific dimension of rocketry but also its power to unite people. His suggestions for the application of the new technology spanned communication and weather satellites, geological-, agricultural- and geographic surveillance and exploration-from-space satellites, industrial manufacturing sites on the moon and in space-stations in low earth orbit (LEOs), as well as extraterrestrial utilization of the sun's energy with huge space mirrors that beam the collected sun energy down to earth.
 

Wernher von Braun portrayed Oberth with the following words: "Hermann Oberth was the first, who when thinking about the possibility of spaceships grabbed a slide-rule and presented mathematically analyzed concepts and designs....  I, myself, owe to him not only the guiding-star of my life, but also my first contact with the theoretical and practical aspects of rocketry and space travel. A place of honor should be reserved in the history of science and technology for his ground-breaking contributions in the field of astronautics."

THE MUSEUM

In appreciation of the contributions of Hermann Oberth, the "Hermann Oberth Society" in 1971 founded the "Hermann Oberth Space Museum" in Feucht, a small town near Nuremberg. Since 1989 the borough of Feucht provides the present building for the museum, which has an exhibition-area of 160m².

Numerous originals, models, text-and picture posters, and exhibits lent by American-, Soviet- and European space-agencies tell about the history and development of this future-oriented technology. Thus, besides many other exhibits, one can admire the space-suite of a Russian cosmonaut, the overall worn by the German D1-astronaut Ernst Messerschmid, a life-size model of "Sputnik I", and the third stage of the carrier-rocket "Europa I".
 

Space-suite of cosmonaut

Besides the exhibition area on the first floor of the museum, a "space-cinema" on the second floor offers a large selection of spectacular movies about rockets and space travel, starting with early attempts of launching rockets up to the latest space-feats.

A significant part of the work of the museum consists in cataloging German and international space-history. The goal of this meticulous detective-work is to render a continuous story from the early beginnings, and make Feucht to the "Mekka" of German space-history.

The "Book-Shop" finally concludes the items that are offered by the Museum. Here one can buy the trend-setting publications and books of Hermann Oberth, his biography, and other publications pertaining to space-travel, as well memorial coins and posters.

THE YOUTH PROGRAM

Here, our theme, mentioned at the beginning "Adventure Space-Travel" becomes reality.

According to the motto "experiencing - amazement - experimenting - comprehending" children and adolescents can learn, in a playfull manner, using fascinating and scientifically interesting objects.

Our museum enables all visitors to become familiar with the fascinating topic of space travel. With the help of posters and experiments the principles of rocketry are brought nearer. Numerous experiments facilitate comprehension of the often complex and intricate processes that go on in rockets.
 

Experiments with vacuum(pump)

For this, the multi-facetted theme "space-technic" was divided into three basic topics: "Gravitation, Thrust, and Vacuum". The concept of the house is a "Museum to Touch".

In the course of many years we have acquired from the German aerospace industry crates full of genuine materials that are used in rockets and satallites. These are labeled with respect to material composition, source, and usage, and may be touched and inspected by the youngsters.

We offer children and young people also other stimuli to get interested in rocketry. On demand, we stage birthday parties in the museum; are putting together small model-rockets that can be flown, and many other things. Grown-ups also like these programs, and consider them much fun as well as instructive.

We will be pleased to inform you about our "Action-Programs".

The Hermann Oberth Museum in Feucht just outside Nuremberg, Germany