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The first time a person set foot on a strange celestial body on July 20, 1969, it was a milestone in human history, perhaps the most important positive moment of the 20th century.
As far as manned space travel is concerned, only a Mars landing can top this event.
But the way to the moon was long and arduous.
The visionaries
Visionary of the moon flight: Jules Verne (1828–1905)
Source: picture alliance / Design Pics
Since ancient times people have been interested in the moon, the other planets and even the sun as strange, possibly inhabited worlds that one tried to reach with strange vehicles such as flying sailing ships or carriages of birds, sometimes seriously, sometimes with satirical disguises.
It was the poets who dreamed of such journeys.
Scientists occasionally also speculated about inhabited worlds, but the majority, almost unanimously, rejected the real possibility of space travel into the 20th century.
That is astonishing, because they should have considered that anything that does not violate the laws of nature is possible in principle, even if sometimes with great difficulty.
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And so it was again the work of a poet who for the first time put the idea of space travel on a realistic basis.
"From the Earth to the Moon" (1865) and the sequel "Reise um den Mond" (1870) by Jules Verne (1828–1905) are by no means non-fiction, but they deal with fundamental space problems such as escape speed, rocket propulsion (even if not at the start) , the choice of the launch site, weightlessness, swing-by technique, landing in the water and, last but not least, the need for meticulous project management.
The pioneers
Without the neat double novel, the first space researcher would not have existed, and that by his own admission.
The man from Russia was convinced that Jules Verne's ideas about space travel would one day become a reality.
The man's name was Konstantin Ziolkowski (1857–1935).
As a child he had become extremely hard of hearing due to an illness.
Nevertheless, he became a teacher and researcher.
At first, hardly anyone took what Ziolkowski researched seriously, because he dealt with rocket technology and space travel.
And that at a time when the first cars were just around.
Today he is one of the great pioneers in space research.
The name “Sputnik” (in German “companion”) for the first satellite in 1957 also comes from one of his utopian stories that he wrote to better disseminate his ideas.
Rocket building pioneer: Hermann Oberth (1894-1989)
Source: picture-alliance / Leemage
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Ziolkowski constructed the first wind tunnel in 1896.
After the turn of the century he published the rocket equation, he wrote about multi-stage rockets, satellites, space stations and space suits, among other things.
He wrote the following sentence: “It is true that the earth is the cradle of mankind, but man cannot stay in the cradle forever.
The solar system will be our kindergarten. "
Something like his successor was the Transylvanian Saxon Hermann Oberth (1894–1989), also an enthusiastic Jules Verne fan.
His doctoral thesis "The rocket to the planetary spaces" was rejected by the Heidelberg University in 1922 due to a lack of a suitable doctoral supervisor.
A year later he published the epochal work as a “normal” reference book.
He worked as a consultant on Fritz Lang's film “The Woman in the Moon”.
A planned rocket launch for the premiere did not materialize.
Theoretician of the moon flight: Robert Goddard (1882-1945)
Source: picture-alliance / newscom / Pi
The third in the league of the most important pioneers was the American Robert Goddard (1882–1945).
His 1920 text "Methods of Reaching Extreme Altitudes", which was about unmanned flights to the moon, met with a majority of rejection and ridicule, although Goddard had recently developed functioning solid fuel rockets for military purposes.
Strangely enough, it was by no means agreed among physicists and engineers at the time that the recoil principle would also work in vacuum.
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Other names such as Hermann Ganswindt (1856–1934) and Friedrich Arturowitsch Zander (1887–1933) are almost forgotten today.
Max Valier (1895–1930) is considered to be the first to die in space travel history.
He tried rocket cars, especially for Opel.
During an engine test, he was killed in an explosion.
The makers
So far, all contributions to space research have either been theoretical or have been rather modest experiments on a small scale.
Initially, there was no money available for building large rockets.
A change occurred for the first time in the world when the Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in 1936.
Wernher von Braun, Peenemünde and the consequences
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Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) was controversial in Germany - his involvement in the arms production of the Third Reich seemed too tight.
Source: Wikipedia
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But in the USA he received great recognition because he made the flight to the moon possible.
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He was part of the team that developed the A4 rocket (unit 4) in Peenemünde on Usedom, which became known as the V2.
Source: picture-alliance / Eventpress Ho / Eventpress Hoensch
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Wernher von Braun in 1944 with officers of the Wehrmacht on site.
Source: picture-alliance / dpa
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Around 3200 V2 rockets have been launched on French, English, Dutch and Belgian cities since September 1944.
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The 14 meter high rocket weighed 13.5 tons and could carry a ton of explosives.
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It reached 5500 kilometers per hour with a range of up to 300 kilometers, which made defense impossible.
Source: picture alliance / Photoshot
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Production took place in the Kohnstein tunnel near Nordhausen in Thuringia by prisoners from the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp.
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After the war, von Braun was brought to the USA with other German scientists as part of "Operation Overcast".
Source: picture-alliance / dpa / UPI
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He later became the technical brain behind President John F. Kennedy's ambitious space plans.
Source: picture-alliance / dpa / B2163_Consolidated_Nasa
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The Saturn I was an important step in the development of the moon rocket in 1965 ...
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... which carried Apollo 11 to the moon in 1969.
Source: picture-alliance / dpa / dpa
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Wernher von Braun's childhood dream had come true.
Source: Wikipedia
The young Wernher von Braun (1912–1977) became the technical director.
He was also an avid science fiction fan, particularly influenced by Kurd Laßwitz 'Mars novel "Auf Zwei Planets" (1897).
The high point of developments from 1939 was the 14-meter-long Aggregat 4 (A4) rocket, better known under its Nazi propaganda name, Vergeltungswaffe 2 (V2).
On October 3, 1942, it reached an altitude of 84.5 kilometers during a test flight and, according to the current definition of NASA, crossed the boundary to space for the first time, which was set at 80 kilometers.
Hardly two years later, on July 20, 1944, it even reached 174.6 kilometers.
From 1944 it was also used as a terror weapon against various countries.
Incidentally, Hermann Oberth was also involved in the development of the A4 / V2 liquid rocket, but only marginally.
The decisive man was Wernher von Braun.
The Peenemünde rocket men evidently had other things in mind than the final victory.
A visible sign of this is the logo of the film “The Woman in the Moon”, which they painted on their rocket.
In the mass production of the V2 in several production facilities, prisoners and forced laborers were used who had to endure great suffering and often died.
This fact tarnishes the memory of the great scientist von Braun today.
Both the Russians and the Americans were aware of the enormous technological lead the Germans had in the field of missile research.
And so after the end of the war in 1945 they captured everything they could get, especially V2 rockets.
So it happens that even in the Peenemünder Museum only a replica of the V2 can be seen.
Not only materials and blueprints were captured, but also the creators.
The top line-up from Peenemünde around Wernher von Braun had left for Bavaria in time to surrender to the Americans.
Others, equally capable men, fell into the hands of the Russians.
However, they were soon released after giving up their knowledge.
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The reason was a single man, Sergei Pavlovich Koroljow (1906–1966).
The aircraft designer and rocket researcher was denounced during the Stalin terror.
Although innocent, he received ten years' imprisonment, most of which he served from 1938 to 1944.
He was severely tortured and developed scurvy.
After his rehabilitation, he was appointed Colonel in the Red Army in 1945 and the decisive man in Soviet space travel.
Sergej Pavlovich Koroljow (1907-1966), the brilliant Soviet missile designer
Source: picture-alliance / dpa
Korolev spent a long time in East Germany to study the A4 / V2 plans, which he then used to develop the Soviet R1.
The race between the USA and the USSR, which soon began, was initially purely military.
On the basis of the A4, both here and there were about the development of ICBMs.
Civil space travel developed as a spin-off, naturally also driven by political competition.
The first hit hit in 1957 was the USSR with the "Sputnik 1", which really woke up the USA.
Nevertheless, the Soviets stayed ahead: "Luna 2" made the first hard moon landing in 1959, Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit the earth in 1961 in the spaceship "Vostok 1".
First person in space: the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961
Source: picture-alliance / dpa / Lehtikuva
The USA initially opposed the “Sputnik” with the “Vanguard” project, with which the Navy was commissioned, officially as a contribution to the geophysical year 1958. The “Vanguard” project was a failure, nine out of twelve launches were unsuccessful.
After all, three satellites reached earth orbit from 1958 onwards.
The Peenemünde were not involved.
Since their relocation, they were initially housed under the supervision of the Army at Fort Bliss near El Paso (Texas), and from 1950 in Huntsville (Alabama).
They first experimented with the A4 and, in the early 1950s, developed military missiles such as the Redstone on its basis.
Wernher von Braun was apparently underutilized and passed the time with scientific and popular books, articles and cartoons, among others in collaboration with Walt Disney.
The race
A decisive factor on the way to the moon happened in 1961. On May 25, President Kennedy announced the goal of bringing a person to the moon and safely back to earth in the same decade.
This sinfully expensive and more than ambitious project was ultimately motivated not to lose out against the Soviets again.
In fact, in the same year, the USSR decided on a similar, but secret, lunar program.
The American Apollo program ran under the responsibility of the civil space agency NASA, founded in 1958.
And Wernher von Braun and his crew played a decisive role in this, even if a total of up to 450,000 employees were involved in the gigantic task, which at first seemed almost impossible to solve.
Start of Saturn V, which carried "Apollo 11" to the moon
Source: picture alliance / United Archive
Von Braun and his team were given the task of developing a suitable launch vehicle.
This is how the Saturn V was created, with a height of 111 meters the largest launcher in the world to this day.
The individual steps were assembled in a 160 meter high assembly hall on the John F. Kennedy Space Center (KFC).
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It was not von Braun's responsibility to design the eleven-meter-long Apollo spacecraft with the command module and the service module for the supply of energy and oxygen as well as the engines for thrust and steering.
Unfortunately there was a serious accident during a test on the ground.
In a fire in the "Apollo 1" capsule in 1967, all three astronauts on board suffocated.
The "Apollo 13" mission in 1970 almost turned into a catastrophe, but the astronauts returned safe and sound
Source: picture alliance / NASA via Cons
Another incident remained in the general memory due to the dramatic film adaptation from 1995 with Tom Hanks ("Houston, we have a problem"): A tank explosion in the service module occurred a good two days after the start of "Apollo 13" on the moon in April 1970. Only with the greatest of efforts succeeded in the happy return to earth in the lunar module, which was rededicated as an escape capsule.
The success of the Saturn V, on the other hand, was almost unbelievable. The first test flight on November 9, 1967 was successful.
During the entire Apollo program, there was no notable breakdown with the giant launcher.
Was it luck that stood by Braun and his people?
But only the able are lucky.
Without a doubt an outstanding achievement.
Meanwhile, the Soviets went on in secret.
Its Apollo counterpart was the Soyuz spaceship, which is still in use today.
On the first flight in 1967 there was a fatal accident when the parachute failed on landing.
The 105-meter-high N1 launch vehicle was planned for the manned moon landing.
During their development, Russian space travel was hit hard.
Its ingenious designer Sergej Koroljow died of heart failure during an operation in 1966, possibly a late consequence of his imprisonment in the camp.
Monument to Sergej Koroljow (1907–1966) in the Russian enclave of Baikonur in Kazakhstan
Source: picture-alliance / dpa
Korolev played with von Braun in a league.
If illness and death hadn't taken him out of the game, what would have happened?
It would not have been totally presumptuous to bet on a victory for the Soviets.
The Americans had actually substituted their top striker too late.
As it was, the work of the Soviets was delayed.
All four attempts to start between 1969 and 1972 failed, but by then the race had already been lost and the lunar program was discontinued.
The Soviets kept Korolyov's existence a secret until his death.
Indeed, the Americans did not know who their main opponent was.
But then Sergei Korolev was buried on the Kremlin wall and honored with a memorial and on postage stamps from various Eastern Bloc countries.
Wernher von Braun's dominant role in the development of space travel is being played down today because of his involvement in the Nazi regime.
Neil Armstrong - first man on the moon
Neil Armstrong graduated from Purdue University with a degree in aerospace engineering.
He was called up as a pilot in 1949 and eventually became the first person to set foot on the moon as a NASA pilot.
Source: STUDIO_HH
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The "Apollo 8" mission, launched on December 21, 1968, was an important intermediate step on the way to the manned moon landing.
Less than three days later, a lunar orbit at an altitude of 112 kilometers was reached.
Many detailed photos were taken during the flight and the ten circumnavigations.
Almost exactly 100 years later, Jules Verne's vision of a trip around the moon had come true.
After tests of the lunar module in earth and lunar orbit with "Apollo 9" and "Apollo 10" in early 1969, the "Apollo 11" astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first to set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969.
Prof. Dr. Gerd Küveler taught and researched in the engineering department of the RheinMain University of Applied Sciences until his retirement.
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This article was first published in May 2019.