Editing Hermann Oberth (section)

== Rocketry and spaceflight ==
During portions of 1928 and 1929, Oberth served as a scientific advisor in Berlin for the film "[[Frau im Mond]]" ("The Woman in the Moon"). This pioneering film was directed and produced by the renowned filmmaker [[Fritz Lang]], in collaboration with the [[Universum Film AG]] company. The film was of enormous value in popularizing the ideas of rocketry and [[space exploration]]. One of Oberth's main assignments was to build and launch a rocket as a publicity event just before the film's premiere. He also designed the model of the ''[[Friede (Woman in the Moon)|Friede]]'', the main rocket portrayed in the film.

On June 5, 1929, Oberth won the inaugural [[Robert Esnault-Pelterie#Prix REP-Hirsch|Prix REP-Hirsch]] (''REP-Hirsch Award'') from the [[Société astronomique de France|French Astronomical Society]]. This honor recognized his significant contributions to the field of astronautics and interplanetary travel, specifically highlighted in his book ''Wege zur Raumschiffahrt''<ref name="Oberth_b"/> ("Ways to Spaceflight"). The book, an expanded version of ''Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen'' ("The Rocket to Interplanetary Space"), secured his position as a prominent figure in the field.<ref>''L'Aerophile'', 1–15 June 1929, p. 176; L. Blosset, ''Smithsonian Annals of Flight'', No. 10, p. 11</ref> The volume is dedicated to [[Fritz Lang]] and [[Thea von Harbou]].<ref name="Oberth_b"/>

[[File:Opel RAK1 2.jpg|thumb|Opel RAK.1 - world's first public flight of a manned rocket-powered plane on September 30, 1929]]
Oberth's student [[Max Valier]] joined forces with [[Fritz von Opel]] to create the world's first large-scale experimental rocket program [[Opel-RAK]], leading to speed records for ground and rail vehicles and the world's first rocket plane. [[Opel RAK.1]], a purpose-built design by [[Julius Hatry]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://opel-tv-footage.com/v/The+RAK+Protocoll?p=4&c=86&l=1|title=Opel Video Portal|website=opel-tv-footage.com|access-date=16 October 2022|archive-date=16 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221016121349/https://opel-tv-footage.com/v/The+RAK+Protocoll?p=4&c=86&l=1|url-status=live}}</ref> was demonstrated to the public and world media on September 30, 1929, piloted by von Opel. Valier's and von Opel's demonstrations had a strong and long-lasting impact on later spaceflight pioneers, in particular on another of Oberth's students, [[Wernher von Braun]].

Shortly after the Opel RAK team's successful liquid-fuel rocket launches of April 10 and 12, 1929 by [[Friedrich Wilhelm Sander]] at Opel Rennbahn in Rüsselsheim, Oberth conducted in the autumn of 1929 a static firing of his first liquid-fueled rocket motor, which he named the ''Kegeldüse''. The engine was built by [[Klaus Riedel]] in a workshop space provided by the Reich Institution of Chemical Technology, and although it lacked a cooling system, it did run briefly.<ref>{{cite book|first=Michael J.|last= Neufeld |year=1996|title=The Rocket and the Reich|publisher= [[Harvard University Press]]|isbn=0-674-77650-X}}</ref> He was helped in this experiment by an 18-year-old student Wernher von Braun, who would later become a giant in both German and American rocket engineering from the 1940s onward, culminating with the gigantic [[Saturn V]] rockets that made it possible for man to land on the Moon in 1969 and in several following years. Indeed, Von Braun said of him:

{{blockquote|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.<ref name="VonBraun">[http://www.oberth-museum.org/index_e.html Hermann Oberth Raumfahrt Museum] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526061405/http://www.oberth-museum.org/index_e.html |date=26 May 2011 }}. Oberth-museum.org (1989-12-28). Retrieved on 2015-06-27.</ref>}}