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- The first European research rocket was fired on 31 March 1931 by Karl Poggensee, when he launched a 1,58m (5 ft 2in) rocket
from a site near Berlin, Germany.
- Late in the summer of 1930, he had fired a number of large firework rockets, and observed their trajectories, and later still
removed the pyrotechnic heads to achieve even higher altitudes. During the winter he built a O.127m (5ins) rocket body containing a
large firework rocket motor with sticks and fins for stability, and used a hoop around the rear of the sticks to help guide it up
his three-stick launcher. The upper section of the rocket contained various instruments to measure velocity, altitude and also a
camera to photograph the instruments in flight. The rocket reached an altitude of 460 metres (1500 feet), after which a parachute
lowered the rocket to the ground safely. His firing had been monitored from the safety of a
barn doorway.
- In the 1950s Karl Poggensee helped form the Deutschen Arbeitsgemeinschaft fur Raketentechnik eV, with Rudolf Nebel and Pullenberg.
The organisation later established a launch base at Cuxhaven where several sounding rockets were launched in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
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