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Test Stand VII - Definition and Overview |
| Related Words: Accept, Advocate, Affirmation, Allow, Ambo, Anchor, Angle, Announcement, Annunciation, Answer, Arise, Arrest, Assertion, Attitude, Avail |
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Test Stand VII (Prüfstand VII) was the most important launchpad for the launch of A4-rockets at Peenemünde.
The Test Stand VII, which was situated at 54°10'6" N and 13°48'17" E, was surrounded by an elliptical earth wall and was therefore nicknamed "arena". To the test stand VII there belonged also a 32 metre high assembly hall. The test stand VII was overdimensioned for launching the A4-rocket. It was designed for testing the A9/A10-rocket from which because of the war situation not even parts could be manufactured.
The test stand VII was used until the evacuation of Peenemünde - in spite of considerable damage from an air raid in August 1944, which were cleared until November 1944 - for experimental launches of A4-rockets. Because the distance between Peenemünde and Great Britain, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands is larger than the maximum range of the A4-rocket, no launches toward hostile targets were made there. Between 1948 and 1961 it was extensively destroyed by the Soviet occupants.
On Test stand VII there was also a TV system for tracking the rockets. This device was the first application of close-in-television in the world at all!
Nowadays there are only a few remains from the once large complex.
Members of the rocket model club DERA from Berlin have launched several models of the A4-rocket from the area of test stand VII ( http://213.239.205.81/~rmb/showthread.php?threadid=546).
October 3rd was therefore chosen as the date, because on that day in 1942 at 15:58 MST the first successful launch of an A4-rocket took place. This rocket was the first man-made device reaching "space" with a height of 84.5 kilometres. For this reason the October 3, 1942 is said to be the "day of birth of space travel".
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