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General Discussion => Historical Spaceflight => Topic started by: Remes on 11/25/2017 07:04 pm

Title: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: Remes on 11/25/2017 07:04 pm
As reported by his nephew, Lutz Kayser passed away aged 78.

http://www.linkayser.com/2017-11-286

Quote
Lutz Thilo Kayser, German rocket pioneer, my uncle, passed away on Bikendrik Island, U.S. Marshall Islands, today, November 19th, 2017. He was 78 years old.

There is also a german article (https://www.golem.de/news/raumfahrtpionier-der-mann-der-lang-vor-spacex-guenstige-raketen-entwickelte-1711-131313.html). Saying: "The man, who long before SpaceX, developed cheap rockets. Lutz Kayser tried in the 1970's, what Elon Musk succeded in 10 years ago: building rockets and launching satellites".

(Coincidence: His nephew was my supervisor, when I was working as a student in Lorch Germany, back in the old millennium. I didn't know they were related.)
Title: Re: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: HMXHMX on 11/27/2017 04:12 pm
Sad to hear.

I visited Lutz Kayser in Munich in 1978, on my way to the IAF, held that year in Dubrovnik, former Yugoslavia.  Memory fades, but I was impressed with the simplicity of the design and fabrication techniques, but not convinced by the scaling to an orbital vehicle.  OTRAG was unfortunately caught up in Cold War politics (unlike many early U.S. commercial space projects, which only faced internal NASA political opposition) and that naturally spelled it doom.

One thing about the visit that sticks out (beyond my first wild ride on the German Autobahn in a taxi) was seeing the massive and ornate hand-carved dark wooden desk of Lutz's, which wouldn't have been out of place in the German equivalent of the Oval Office.  It was totally out of place and scale in an engineering office.  I expect that there was a story about it but I didn't think to ask him before I departed.  ;)

Title: Re: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: Humuku on 11/27/2017 04:43 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/13/naked-island-idyll-eccentric-couple-recall-life-rockets-dictators

Looks like he really had an interesting life...
Title: Re: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: Remes on 11/28/2017 03:22 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/13/naked-island-idyll-eccentric-couple-recall-life-rockets-dictators

Wow. Rockets, LEGO and Nazi memorabilia. That's a lot of potential for the worst thread ever on this forum.

I just wanted to mention, that creating this thread doesn't mean I'm inline with Lutz Kayser. I haven't read for a long time about him, and if I did, it was rather about his rockets and not the person. I would rather not accept people knowing they have no issues with Nazi crap hanging in there living room.
Title: Re: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: zubenelgenubi on 11/29/2017 07:43 pm
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2015/jun/13/naked-island-idyll-eccentric-couple-recall-life-rockets-dictators

Looks like he really had an interesting life...

I don't know what to say, coherently, about either Lutz Kayser, or his wife, Susi--you really have to read the article for yourself.
Title: Re: Lutz Kayser, founder of Otrag, has passed away
Post by: kevin-rf on 11/30/2017 01:29 pm
Has the memoir been published yet? That could be quite interesting.