Kumulus Kumulus as displayed at Oberth Museum in Feucht Credit: Harald Lutz |
Status: Retired 1959. Payload: 5.00 kg (11.00 lb). Thrust: 4.98 kN (1,120 lbf). Gross mass: 30 kg (67 lb). Height: 3.00 m (9.80 ft). Diameter: 0.15 m (0.49 ft). Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).
Payload: 5.00 kg (11.00 lb) to a 20 km altitude.
Kumulus Launch Kumulus launch to 15 km Credit: Via Harald Lutz |
Kumulus Kumulus Credit: Via Harald Lutz |
Kumulus Kumulus launch preparations at Cuxhaven, 28 May 1961 Credit: Via Harald Lutz |
The first launch of a Kumulus rocket is made to 15 km altitude carrying a radio-transmitter built by Professor Max Ehmert of the Max Planck Institute. The rocket had a mass of 30.3 kg, produced 508 kgf, and reached 700 m/s. However due to the batteries becoming too cold during launch preparations, the transmitter did not function and the rocket could not be tracked.
The DRG (German Rocket Society) launched four MVR-I rockets on Saturday and two on Sunday. The Saturday launches were tracked to an altitude of 15 km and impacted 15 to 30 km from the launch point in the North Sea. The rockets were 18 cm in diameter, 2 m long, and had a mass of 24 kg. One of the Sunday launches reached 19,750 m altitude with a meteorological payload built by the Max Planck Institute. The rocket had a thrust of 508 kgf and weighted 19.9 kg. German television covered the launches.
The first Cirrus rockets are launched. Cirrus I, a two stage rocket, with each stage providing 508 kgf, reached a velocity of 750 m/s (Mach 2.5) and 35 km altitude. Cirrus II, 4.155 m long, with a thrust of 1.8 tonnes, reached 1000 m/s and an altitude of 50 km. Kumulus I and II took biological specimens aloft. Each Kumulus had a mass of 28 kg, was 3 m long, produced 508 kgf, and reached 750 m/s, Mach 2.0. Kumulus I carried the Mexican salamander Lotte to an altitude of 12 km. Lotte landed safely in the Cuxhaven flats. Kumulus II took the goldfish Max to an altitude of 15 km, but Max, enclosed in a plexiglass globe, made a hard landing.