Herman Potočnik Noordung and Vitanje

Srečanje z Zemljo by IRENAKOVACEVIC on YouTube

Speech of cosmonaut dr. Jurij Baturin on the opening of his exhibition Meeting With Earth

The Herman Potočnik Noordung Memorial Centre was opened in December 2006 in advance of the 115th anniversary celebrations of the birth of Herman Potočnik Noordung (1892-1929), a space flight pioneer and a visionary who conceived the idea of a geostationary satellite. Located in his hometown of Vitanje, the Centre showcases his life and work. The Centre was initiated by Dragan Živadinov and his Noordung Cosmokinetic Cabinet. This is a museum of one artefact, Herman Potočnik's Noordung book Problem of Space Travel (1929). Memorial room slightly resembles to what interior would be like in Potočnik's designed space observatory. Due to lack of physical memorabilia about his life, interior of observatory capsule presents videos with statements of renowned historians, cosmonauts and astronauts for instance: dr. Tatjana Nikolajevna Želnina, sir Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrik, Pavel Klushantsev, dr. Jurij Baturin, dr. Roger Launius and Frederick I. Ordway III. Most known is Herman Potočnik Noordung's design for wheel space station that film director Stanley Kubrik used in 2001: A Space Odyssey (1969).

Herman Potočnik Noordung

A visionary with an extraordinary technological imagination and an astounding philosophy of existence, Herman Potočnik Noordung was the author of the first strategic plan for the human exploration of space, whose predictions enjoy growing confirmation with each new extra-terrestrial accomplishment in the modern era. Born in 1892 to Slovene parents in Pula, Croatia, he spent World War I as a first lieutenant, assisting in the construction of bridges and railway lines in Soča and Piavo. In 1925 he completed his engineering and electro-technical studies in Vienna with the title Specialist in Rocket Technology. Years of dire economic hardship and illness coincided with his design of a futuristic rocket and exploration of space-travel technology. Despite the setbacks the first notes for a book emerged, inspired by the writings of German rocket scientist Hermann Oberth. By 1928 Noordung had completed a rough draft of all the chapters, and in 1929, shortly before his death, the book Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums was published. Running to 188 pages and featuring 100 of his own drawings, it discusses gravity and ways of overcoming it, looks at the space technology used in everyday life, contemplates the efficiency of the rocket while warning against its possible misuse for military purposes, and envisions a geostationary satellite that would circle around the globe indefinitely with enviable precision. The concluding thought of the fourth and last segment of Herman's book is about the drive for nuclear and photonic technology which would make it possible to travel to nearby planets in our universe. The book considered space travel not as mere day-dreaming but as a very real technological possibility.

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Since Noordung left no tangible work behind besides his world-renowned book, a Slovene director Dragan Živadinov has gone about recreating Potočnik's life in video form, which is displayed at the Centre.

The Centre has occasionally hosted the astronauts (e.g. Christer Fuglesang, Sunita Williams) and other prominent guests. In May and June 2009 Memorial Centre hosted exhibition of Russian scientist and cosmonaut dr. Jurij Baturin with the title Meeting With Earth.

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Herman Potočnik Noordung and Vitanje

Herman Potočnik Noordung

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