A project, headed by German scientists Rudolf Nebel and Herbert Schaefer, as part
of which emerged in 1933 the first definite plan to build a manned rocket. A test
rocket was launched on June 9, 1933, at Wolmirstedt near Magdeburg, but the rocket
never cleared its 10-meter launch tower. Several more tests followed with mixed
results. On June 29, 1933, a rocket left the launch tower, but flew horizontally
at low altitude for a distance of about 300 m. This rocket was recovered undamaged,
refashioned into a design more closely resembling the VfR Repulsors, and eventually
launched from Lindwerder Island in Tegeler Lake near Berlin. It climbed to an
altitude of about 300 m before crashing 100 m from the launch tower. Additional
test launches were conducted from a boat on Schwielow Lake through August 1933
at which time the Magdeburg Project was abandoned.
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