Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung
From The Space Library
The Society for Space Research was a pre- and post-war rocket society established in Germany.
The original society was formed by Hans Kaiser and others, including Johann Wolfgang Goethe, and Krafft Ehricke and lasted from August 18th 1937 to approximately 1943. This first chapter was formed at the University of Breslau. The group published a journal called Weltraum from 1939-1943. The number of members was as high as 400 before activities ground to a halt due to the war.
The GfW was reformed after the war as several chapters. The first chapter to be granted an official charter was formed in Stuttgart by Heinz Hermann Koelle and Heinz Gartmann and had its first meeting on January 28th 1948 at the Stuttgart Observatory where 51 people joined. The charter was awarded on August 5th 1948. This chapter was instrumental in the founding of the International Astronautical Federation.
Post war chapters included:
- Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung e. V., Stuttgart-Zuffen-hausen, Postfach 9. (Chairman Heinz Hermann Koelle), formed January 1948.
- Südwestdeutsche Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung, Frankfurt-West, Postfach 1312A (Chairman Johann Wolfgang Goethe) formed in March 1948, dissolved in 1952
- Nordwestdeutsche Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung e. V., at Stade (Chairman Hans K. Kaiser) formed in June 1949, combined with Stuttgart group on September 30 1952.
- Nordwestdeutsche Gesellschaft für Weltraumforschung e. V.,Sekretariat Friedrichstadt (Eider), Postfach 2.
- Institut für Raketenforschung, Frankfurt-Main, Finkenhofstraße 38.
- Gesellschaft für Raketenforschung e. V., Bremen, Yorkstraße 63. (Chairman Ing. A. Püllenberg)
Other smaller groups formed in Hamburg and Nürnberg which were formed in 1950, followed by München, Dusseldorf, Hanover and Berlin in 1951.
A series of numbered technical reports was begun by the Stuttgart group in 1950, which included:
- H.H.KOELLE, Verfahren zur Bestimmung der minimalen Startgewichte und der günstigsten Konstruktionsgrundwerte von Raumfahrzeugen. GfW Research Report No. 5, 1950, Stuttgart/Germany.
- R.ENGEL, Leistungsnomogramm fur Stufenraketen. GfW Research Report No. 6, 1950, Stuttgart/Germany.
- H.H.KOELLE, Der Beweis der Möglichkeit der Weltraumfahrt. GfW Research Report No. 7, 1950, Stuttgart/Germany .
- H.HOEPPNER und H.H.KOELLE, Die optimale Lastrakete zur Außenstation in 1669 km Hohe. GfW Research Report No. 8, 1951, Stuttgart/Germany.
- H.H.KOELLE, Der Einfluß der konstruktiven Gestaltung der Außenstation auf die Gesamtkosten des Projektes. GfW Research Report No. 9, 1951, Stuttgart/Germany.
