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Austrian rocket theorist who founded the first space-related society in Western
Europe. Von Hoefft studied chemistry at the University of Technology, Vienna,
the University of Göttingen, and Vienna University, graduating from the last in
1907. Subsequently, he worked as an engineer in Donawitz, a tester at the Austrian
Patent Office, and a consultant. In 1926 he formed the Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft
für Höhen-forschung (Scientific Society for High Altitude Research) in Vienna
and later wrote a series of articles titled "The Conquest of Space" for the German
Rocket Society’s publication "Die Rakete" (The Rocket) in which he laid out
a remarkably visionary scheme for the exploration of the solar system and beyond.
The first step was the development of a liquid-fueled sounding
rocket called the RH-I (RH for "Repulsion Hoefft") which would be carried
to a height of 5-10 km by balloon and then launched. Such rockets, he explained,
could be used for delivering mail or photographic remote sensing of the Earth.
By stages, their capacity would be increased. RH-V, for example, would be able
to fly around the Earth in ellipses, yet take off and land on water like a plane.
The ultimate development, the RH-VIII, would be launched from a space
station and be able to reach other planets or even leave the solar system.
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