Eng. Wernher von Braun is to be seen as the "father"
of modern space travel. Nonetheless, the way cumulating in the construction of
the "Saturn V" was quite a long and laborous one, being paved with a lot of
setbacks and technical problems. The foundation stone was laid by the
development of the EMW A-4 (also infamously known as "V2"). The first succesful
launch was achieved in September 1941 at the test center located at Peenemünde,
a small town on the coast of the Baltic island of Usedom. The rocket reached a
max. speed of 5,500 km/h, had a range of 190 km and got into lower space at the
top of its trajectory.
Although the Nazi leadership ordered immediate mass
production of the rocket and forbade any peaceful space exploration due to the
worsening war situation, Wernher von Braun and his crew went on with their
research under the cover to increase EMW A-4's range and payload (1 ton of high
explosives).
These efforts led to the enlarged and un-manned EMW
A-9b (based on the EMW A-8), equipped with long elegantly curved wings which
extended to the forward fuselage. This design was the basis for the manned
version, the EMW A-9ap. Due to the wing configuration, a positive stablization
during atmospheric flight and an extended range was calculated.
The EMW never left the drawing board and technical
data are scarce.