Incentives. In the 1960 s. The United States and the soviet union were in roiled in a race into space. It was a contest involving huge amounts of material and personnel. Nasa alone employed thousands of people with the goal of putting an american on the moon. But it wasnt just the americans and the russians who were reaching for the stars a Small Company from got consisting of half a dozen engineers wanted to go toe to toe with the superpowers. You know our people could miss out as our premise was not to go high tech but to go low cost cost. Look lower to get us all togged was the 1st ever private space in our own pockets from. The top of your t. V. I heard they were going to launch a rocket in order that the launch site would be somewhere in africa and thats when they came up with zaire. And almost all blogs we looked at the map which is where your anywhere off know. The to the scale thats roughly will i had this feeling that going to the jungle was somehow like opening the door to some offenses. The bush on. The idea of doing in the year geographically made sense so turned out diplomatically there was a disaster. She wouldnt you want to start a technically high risk enterprise what do you do. You go to a venture capitalist just bought an Angel Investor john. You actually all go to Silicon Valley a lot over business your Business Partners name is mobutu so. Then something is wrong. Its are crazy story. There was also a car that the program or truck was the personification of the ideas of which kaiser. Devilish book called the road. To. Truth was kinds or kaiser was the last. I never saw him there again. The string of it all started when i read these books that ran a farm pound gorilla for war and usually mugs. As a schoolboy i wrote a letter to vanna from asking him what he thought i should become a real an astronaut or a rocket engineer whos already replied you want to have heavy to be an astronaut we need light people this weekend so i took the easy route and anyway the probability of becoming an astronaut is very remarked. Bacon jake island a tiny spot of land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean between hawaii and papua new guinea. With is rocket venture behind him this secluded spot is where look still kaiser ended up with his wife susannah the man who spent much of his career reaching for the stars is now spending his old age like a Robinson Crusoe only a few centimeters above sea level his nights began on almost exactly the opposite side of the globe. British 2 i was born in stuttgart and was 6 years old at the end of the war when as well as kids we used to enjoy running around and collecting old ammunition which will crack open the door and then sprinkle the black powder that was inside in stripes onto the ground which we then set on fire to store in and so it was very dangerous given our parents were unaware of antics thats how it was after the more we collected bomb fragments and i mean a short as well thats what we played when there were no other toys option. When i was still at school i found it and led a group of students like that for a bridge thats how i came to Study Aerospace Engineering in the group home. In postwar germany looks kaiser was a pioneer almost all the former german space experts had long since left to work for the russians and the americans. As well and the 04 it was a very exciting time because it was officially forbidden by the occupation statute to produce supersonic flow so cloying. Quickly found partners in crime guns i dont know from the safety in 1965 i arrived at the Technical University just look out guts you know lots kaiser the air he had found at the a. G. R. Are a working group for rocketry and space quite at the university of st got it shotgun. In the early years the rocket crazy students had to mainly improvise. Their 1st experiments took place here. And for how looked up there was an old bunker the needed some stairs which a group of us built correctly 9 quickly we put in the fuel tanks the pipes the measuring instruments to lie to and thats where we tested a small liquid propellant rocket engine is to seek out struck it complete package get tested. The more i didnt get big dish this was on the outskirts of the streetcar suburb but. Once thinkable today it was right near a residential area but we spent all our free time tables for free and not for profit. Lets kaiser was adept at negotiating with the American Military also richies they issued him a special permit for his officially for the big missile tests as a result of his group was among the 1st to succeed in building a functioning rocket engines off to the. Off. Because of you so mr cars are you and your colleagues other verma from pounds of laurels and we want to try and learn from the modern problems that are inherent in Rocket Technology in space research. Lets have the germans they did with just a slightly damaged but what did they do in the elbow as it was called back then the europeans worked together to build their own rockets and it didnt work they exploded or whatever is an expert the it there was no space flight its got this kind. Of the takeoff of a european rocket 2 years ago in australia with a launch vehicle built by britain france and germany was a failure on france aka. Then economy minister who posed the question. Over snitched why there wasnt a much cheaper method of going into spanks. The harmons what movies are stewardship of alban as a group of students we applied for this research werent and were subsequently given a Development Contract worth 3 and a half 1000000 german marks talk to. The students proposal was radically simple. Namely he didnt get it all i know of course and you see we bundled together a large number of small rocket engine to switch could be produced very cheaply by serial production by using such existing mass produced parts the production costs would be reduced still further. Down and so we built an injection sale that had a volkswagen an inch of life and order as its electric drive in that earned us the reputation to a how to they fly rockets with windshield wiper motor but they were only used as a driving mechanism for putting the valves closing the valves opening halfway closing exactly what a windshield wiper motor does perfectly the us was in shock and that was our philosophy not high tech but low cost and us well and so philosophy type take someone to low cost. In addition to the half dozen engineers in the project qualified technicians will all say recruited wilson 1st for almost 2 years we drive up the highway to a lab with one of the engines in the trunk of the car has climbed on top of it was put on the test bench there and then it was tested it tested. Economical and inventive the rockets made in sway the it was taking shape. It would have been observed if the swabian said any been able to make cars and refrigerators. The Test Facilities at one place housed in the hyatt on the being testing the rocket engines since 963. 00. Getting at it. We carried out about 2000 combustion tests with this low cost and any decent effect if you missed all of them a ploy it took us 2 years to realize that if instead of a liquid fox a gentle and liquid hydrogen switched off we use nitric acid which has such a high density little boys who put a lot more few movie into the rider so for an orchid to go with the bring on. Lets kinds or Interest Group are not the only people doing tests in one parts house and rocket parts from bolivia rep for arriving to be tried out here. Kinds is engines began to arouse interest among the competition. These are for we already have a cooperation with another Aerospace Enterprise in france and they were always curious about what we were doing here is here good as they were concerned that it might be used to compete with the arian program its called grow and this are. The dates to order. In the 8970 s. The German Government decided to join the European Space agency lisa went on swept it down meets could tie up its oil before strong and then we were notified your research is all well and good and c and we can no longer finance or we also dont want to finance a further kind got speeches and that was the end of our indefinite so if you. Love our place. And thats whats in that menu to think its either you file away years of work and say ok its over and sarka but we didnt want to do that so lets kaiser certainly didnt lose kaiser strongarming. The aim and the destructors role in this he said so if we cant get any subsidies well do it privately cravaack that and we found it a Public Limited company and i know shaft people are truck. To appear as credible as possible to potential donors kinds or try to win over the man who had helped to get the americans to the moon the van i found was to become chairman of the Supervisory Board when he became so ill with Kidney Disease he said dr davis could do it just as well for mr kerr the rest who would work through from brown appear one day and later on with fear us army and the nasa had been a director of the kerry space or and he was an old rocket man. Could keep a straight cover debuts whereas the thai kaiser carries the model of the rocket mr davis with lots of experience from the Moon Landing Program for months on the program and as to cards or he gives the presentation into a course set up as a right of company took in more than 160000000. 00 mox within a year kinds his rocket became an investment object for the wealthy and ing at the nickname dentists rocket. Sized bins you see he made this meant that if you invested 1000000 you could write off 2600000 us losses for tax purposes its for loose to option. Good with the same single components the same tank modules the same engine modules we can build small medium and very large rockets and fulfill all specifications can legalize at that time we had fully developed a technology and bench tested everything the next the next stage was flight testing which we couldnt do in germany for insurance reasons as the population density is too high horses to. The newly founded otranto finally found alone scientists one of the most bizarre chapters in space history. In myanmar and saying a few insects ish up is 1974. It was the year of the historic boxing event known as the rumble in the jungle between muhammad ali and George Foreman when George Foreman that path im not there may not that one of the people who organized this fight on site here up in york was a credit occupied and internationally active businessmen we met by chance on an airplane flight soon i take to convince you we started talking what do you do probably i organized boxing fights among other things what do you do. We build rockets but we dont have a launch site. And he said what about so youre the best in the side here with. The Central African state of sayed todays democratic republic of congo it gained independence from belgium in 1960 to its political leader to stay safe it came to power in 1960 family had a weakness for german technology. To go over there needs to be sent home or take a plane and fly around and see if you can find something suitable for a long shot and i want to go into the 1st observation satellites of most of valence of mine going to civil war and come down. Like the prestige value of having a space launch site in africa in his own country and the 1st one to launch satellites from africa would be attractive in a long range and assuring 0 money probably talked loudest to it to mobutu was extremely corrupt. Yalit book but he was supported at the time by the french the americans but it is a job and generally by the real him just the persian. Gulf because neighboring angola was supported by and also impact country missiles that became part of the sharif. Saw for the. Provided for under limited use of 100000 square kilometers of territory similar to the area the former g. D. R. Which had one 104000 square kilometers. You had 250000 corporate committed as this was a huge area which requests hardly manage with our 304050 employees. The contract signed in 1975 was not determinable until 2025 the site was located in the south of say between angola and tanzania it was sparsely populated but there were regular scam issues at the borders between the enemy states. The harm done i knew a whole lot tori and we found a high plateau in the middle of these 100000 square kilometers just went numb to the outflow it was the little river next to a dense jungle and can above that was the highlands with the climate similar to switzerlands the harm done. More to a group of chainsaw growth down from the helicopter and quickly cleared the 20 to 30 meter diameter area of the helicopter to level down to plots to cut back on the saw and bit by bit we cleared the plateau now hold off the back of my. The in the world in order to build the infrastructure in the middle of the jungle or track teamed up with a Civil Engineer with a lot of experience in africa dictated to them on his companys staving had already realized numerous projects since i. Mean i thought they were all weird 1st as the mark they were 78 people it was someone really the end of the world where no ones ever seen before and thats where they went i looked at them until theyre not exactly who sprinkle just. With time you learn a lot through experience you know. And i thought what on earth is this not doing in the bush is just as much for the bush. Plan. As it till the man succeeded in building a 4 kilometer long runway through the rough terrain on the past and soon afterwards the runway would be listed on International Flight charts under the name google airport. After the move from gemini to zaire. To craft and subsequently founded it 7 a line under the congolese flag. And the like from from the British Air Force of painted them fire engine red so we could find them in the barn. True only i thank you our well known courses saved or set up a big open temple where the team assembled the rockets and since i moved out i just saw a movie but it was basically a blue light beer tent so if you had settled the tent the both aaron and jesse. Thanks was. Initially the 40 strong team setting tents for the 1st few months while the village was built using local materials. The showcase of the complex was the restaurant with a total of 80 seats thanks i was. Only one and a half years after the start of the work and we were able to carry out our 1st. Trial run was we built a scaffold from local wood so we wrote to the wrong agent work adulthood. The film there was this amazing feeling of optimism and well you couldnt help but think of this for this is going to succeed was looking more for barack and spaceflight was not what our track had in mind the aim was to dont satellites into space with its rockets. The 1st test took it was 6 meters you know. Tension was timely as the team made the final little preparation this thank the swaddle that was may 17th 1077 a really exciting day for all of us which once i did. It was freedom i was a bit of a film and photo man i know has a lot i used to house a log the camera that the astronauts took with them to the movie. Did not stop or in the middle of the staff all took of course not too late and turned water on and then came the countdown to 0. From 10 to 0 of. Oz. Deep down at 800 up against the blue sky as i hear. There was a ton of play loud with a tip it went top 10 kilometers easy a kilometer 0 the successful 1st start to coast consternation elsewhere the program was taken seriously. After these launch because they really had a rocket it didnt help that one particular clip was taken with high speed film i saw that multiple times on american television. So i just familiar. Ignition and liftoff but this is not Cape Canaveral or a soviet launch pad the playing of that particular film at the wrong speed gave you impression of a giant threatening rocket rather than a safe useful commercial rocket. That wary the americans and soviets during the cold war they were paying close attention to who was building rockets. Soon they were frequent reports that the russians had launched spying satellites to observe the site from about. The wet because on the plants i went to where it stands. We were pretty off the beaten track and unaware of what was going on elsewhere there wasnt much wrong with the world up there with law each to be able to control the. Top of them said will push them up like i used to make my own sausages lies and lies and white drop words roll sausage oh and also me to find salami in khaki colored sausage from ice they were very popular and the cock all along. Much more. Good on getting along i was i was more the roast meat i also made a kind of blood sausage and a liver sausage for the ins i was also my restaurant and be on the edge of my mind a. Bit of you often enough. To see it all be about i also tried making a game salami with annele a while before the open to be sure was a lot of people. From each was for me it was your adventure. A real adventure. Of all of the there for 2 or 3 days then hed fly away again be on the road for a week and then come back im. 43 years old one of the most colorful figures in the International Space industry among other things on the news the main channel that im chairman of the Supervisory Board of or trying to keep the aim of this company is to transport satellites into orbit in respective off who wants the satellites launched vehicle for what purpose that they leave. It wasnt just mobutu kaiser said he would large spy satellites for anybody and that was a serious concern to both the u. S. And soviet military progress they knew about each others progress they did not like the idea of other countries having the same pictures as they were getting because there were things that they are. Couldnt hide from each other but they wanted to hide from the rest of the world. The french government as well wanted the Rocket Program shut down they were the primary contributor to the area and commercial launch system so anything that would distract from their business was s