142
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
which was named Assembly number 1 (A-1). Although von Braun and others had
participated in the development of the “Propeller” rocket of the VfR, and had certain
technical basis and experimental experience, due to the lack of systematic rocket
theory research and detailed test data analysis, it was not smooth to develop the A-1
rocket and all of many static firing tests ended with the engine explosions. Eventually,
von Braun abandoned to further develop the A-1 small rocket, and directly design
the A-2 rocket with a engine thrust of 1500 kgf, the exhaust velocity of 3000 m/s and
the duration of 45 s. Moreover, some problems of the engines, such as the ignition
delay and too-high mass center, were also deeply studied and solved. In December
1934, the launch tests of two A-2 rockets got successful, in which the flight altitudes
reached 2400 m.
The test success of the A-2 rockets gave the Dornberger’s group great confidence and strong support from the military authorities. Consequently, Dornberger and
others started to build a completely closed and streamlined large-scale rocket research
base, Peenemünde Army Research Center. In April 1936, the Aviation Ministry paid
750,000 marks to the town of Wolgast for the whole Northern peninsula of the Baltic
island at Usedom, to founding the Peenemünde Army Research Center as one of
five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office. By 1938,
the Center was built and put into use, with a total cost of 300 million marks. Meanwhile, with the base facilities improving, the number of people was growing, and
the total reached 17,000 people in the peak period. During the construction of the
Center, von Braun had also been taking charge of developing the A-3 rocket, in
which the magnetic servo system and gyroscopes were used to control the exhaustgas cabin and achieve flight stability. The detector and parachute were installed at
the A-3 rocket’s head to sample test data. For all that, the A-3 rocket tests were not
smooth, and all three test rockets had different faults, eventually leading to failures.
On the basis of the A-3 rocket, the design of stability control system was further
improved to develop the A-5 rocket. In 1939, the launch test of the first A-5 rocket
equipped with the full guidance system and the parachute was successful. Dornberger
took the opportunity to request from the German Army Staff Headquarters for the
program of developing the A-4 rocket weapons with real combat capability, and
thus the Center was granted the highest priority in personnel, material and financial
supports. However, after inspecting the Center, Adolf Hitler did not show a special
interest in the practical application prospects for the liquid rockets. At this time, as
the Second World War was already started, Hitler still believed in the strong power
of the German Air Force, and urgently needed enormous amounts to accelerate the
development of military aircrafts and other military equipment and facilities. Shortly
thereafter, Hitler ordered to cancel the priority of the A-4 rocket weapon research
program. In this way, the development of the A-4 rocket weapon had been pushing
forward difficultly and slowly from the end of 1939 to 1943.
According to Dornberger’s idea, the new generation of rocket weapons must
surpass the famous “Paris Gun” to show its superiority, which would be favored by the
superior leaders. The Paris Gun was any of several long-range cannon produced by the
German arms manufacturer during the late of the First World War, and was so-called
because it was specially built to shell Paris at a range of approximately 121 km with a
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
which was named Assembly number 1 (A-1). Although von Braun and others had
participated in the development of the “Propeller” rocket of the VfR, and had certain
technical basis and experimental experience, due to the lack of systematic rocket
theory research and detailed test data analysis, it was not smooth to develop the A-1
rocket and all of many static firing tests ended with the engine explosions. Eventually,
von Braun abandoned to further develop the A-1 small rocket, and directly design
the A-2 rocket with a engine thrust of 1500 kgf, the exhaust velocity of 3000 m/s and
the duration of 45 s. Moreover, some problems of the engines, such as the ignition
delay and too-high mass center, were also deeply studied and solved. In December
1934, the launch tests of two A-2 rockets got successful, in which the flight altitudes
reached 2400 m.
The test success of the A-2 rockets gave the Dornberger’s group great confidence and strong support from the military authorities. Consequently, Dornberger and
others started to build a completely closed and streamlined large-scale rocket research
base, Peenemünde Army Research Center. In April 1936, the Aviation Ministry paid
750,000 marks to the town of Wolgast for the whole Northern peninsula of the Baltic
island at Usedom, to founding the Peenemünde Army Research Center as one of
five military proving grounds under the German Army Weapons Office. By 1938,
the Center was built and put into use, with a total cost of 300 million marks. Meanwhile, with the base facilities improving, the number of people was growing, and
the total reached 17,000 people in the peak period. During the construction of the
Center, von Braun had also been taking charge of developing the A-3 rocket, in
which the magnetic servo system and gyroscopes were used to control the exhaustgas cabin and achieve flight stability. The detector and parachute were installed at
the A-3 rocket’s head to sample test data. For all that, the A-3 rocket tests were not
smooth, and all three test rockets had different faults, eventually leading to failures.
On the basis of the A-3 rocket, the design of stability control system was further
improved to develop the A-5 rocket. In 1939, the launch test of the first A-5 rocket
equipped with the full guidance system and the parachute was successful. Dornberger
took the opportunity to request from the German Army Staff Headquarters for the
program of developing the A-4 rocket weapons with real combat capability, and
thus the Center was granted the highest priority in personnel, material and financial
supports. However, after inspecting the Center, Adolf Hitler did not show a special
interest in the practical application prospects for the liquid rockets. At this time, as
the Second World War was already started, Hitler still believed in the strong power
of the German Air Force, and urgently needed enormous amounts to accelerate the
development of military aircrafts and other military equipment and facilities. Shortly
thereafter, Hitler ordered to cancel the priority of the A-4 rocket weapon research
program. In this way, the development of the A-4 rocket weapon had been pushing
forward difficultly and slowly from the end of 1939 to 1943.
According to Dornberger’s idea, the new generation of rocket weapons must
surpass the famous “Paris Gun” to show its superiority, which would be favored by the
superior leaders. The Paris Gun was any of several long-range cannon produced by the
German arms manufacturer during the late of the First World War, and was so-called
because it was specially built to shell Paris at a range of approximately 121 km with a