TO SPACE AND BACK

TWO DANES WANT TO HAVE A PEEK AT SPACE, SO THEY'RE BUILDING A ROCKET - WITH MATERIAL FROM THE DO-IT-YOURSELF STORE.

The taxi driver is getting suspicious: “You want to go in there?” We’re standing at the entrance to an abandoned site bordering Copenhagen’s harbor, the wind is banging a metal gate against a crooked fence post, grass and hazel bushes are sprouting from the asphalt. At the end of the street is a rusty corrugated iron shed. There’s not a soul to be seen. This is not what space stations are supposed to look like.

What may well be one of the craziest flying machines ever is taking shape just 15 minutes from Copenhagen’s city center: An architect and an engineer want to send a manned rocket into space. That would make tiny Denmark the fourth nation to launch a manned space flight, after Russia, the USA and China.

ARE THEY SERIOUS?
The doors to the shed are open. “Hello, is anyone there?”—“I am here.” A friendly face topped by a bald head appears from behind a machine as big as he is. As if to make us even more doubtful about the seriousness of his mission, Kristian von Bengtson lights a cigarette: “Rocket” brand. Welcome to Denmark’s space center.

Kristian von Bengtson, 37, recognizes the look of pity tinged with amazement when visitors enter the shed for the first time. He knows what they are thinking: They can’t be serious ... can they? They can. Von Bengtson and his partner Peter Madsen, 40, are very serious. “In three years time it’ll fly, and one of us will be inside,” says von Bengtson, pointing to the bright red, jacked up rocket capsule.

A PROJECT LIKE A MARRIAGE
It’s named after the only Dane to be popularly known for his preoccupation with space, and that was more than 400 years ago. Tycho Brahe, a contemporary of Johannes Kepler, invented devices with which to measure the movements of the stars. This summer the “Tycho Brahe 1” is due to come some 30 kilo - meters closer to the stars. That’s how high the rocket is scheduled to fly when it is tested with a dummy on board.

Architect von Bengtson worked for several years for the American space agency NASA, developing spacecraft interiors. Four years ago he heard about Peter Madsen, an inventor working in Copenhagen harbor who had just built his third submarine: The 18-meter long “UC3 Nautilus” is the world’s largest privately built underwater craft. If he can go down, he can probably go up, thought von Bengtson. He and Madsen immediately hit it off. In the intervening years the two have spent more time with one another than with their wives, children or friends. “A project like this is like a marriage,” says von Bengtson. The division of labor goes like this: Madsen is responsible for the propulsion, von Bengtson for the passenger area. The first six meters of the rocket containing the combustion chamber, inlet valve and liquefied gas tank are Madsen’s, the top three meters are von Bengtson’s workplace. On this early spring day, temperatures in the tin shed are not much above zero. The only place where von Bengtson can warm up is in the small office, before zipping up his thick overalls and going back to work on the trapdoors. These are designed to release four parachutes, allowing the astronaut to float safely back to earth. “The earth will look like a blue ball,” says von Bengtson, “it’s going to be a tremendous feeling.”

SUPPORTED BY THE NAVY
Since October 2008 the two companions have carried out thirty-three ground trials in order to find the right fuel and test the heat resistance of their materials. Last September the rocket was due to lift off for the first time with a dummy on board. Madsen’s submarine towed the launch platform outside the twelve mile limit off Bornholm, where there are no national laws governing the launch of space vehicles. The Danish navy helped by cordoning off a wide area of the sea. “Three, two, one, zero.” Von Bengtson pressed the button—and nothing happened. The fuel, a mixture of liq uid oxygen and polyurethane chilled to minus 185 degrees Celsius, refused to ignite. A subsequent analysis revealed that a battery was dead. It was supposed to power a hairdryer which was needed to prevent a crucial valve from freezing shut. It could have been a moment for mockery. But instead, former NASA colleagues called to congratulate the pair. “It was a success,” von Bengtson interprets the expe - rience, “because we discovered a design fault that we can eliminate before the next test.”

The office is decorated with photos of rocket pioneers of the last hundred years. Among them is the Russian Konstantin Ziolkowski who was the first to speculate about the possibilities of thrust fueled by liquid oxygen or hydrogen. Rocket pioneer Hermann Oberth, too, smiles down from the wall: In 1929 he planned a twometer long rocket that was supposed to reach a height of 40 kilometers. It was a time when space travel was a utopian dream, and even Albert Einstein attended the premiere of Fritz Lang’s film “Woman in the Moon.” But it was to be 1961 before Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. He took off in his spacecraft Vostok 1, returning alive and well 108 minutes later after orbiting the earth once at a height of around 200 kilometers.

DANES SHARE THE EXCITEMENT
Every time the space shuttle has launched, the cost to NASA has been in the order of 250 million USD. By comparison, costs incurred by the Copenhagen space travelers have been tiny. Their budget for this year through to the planned launch in June is just € 37,000. Most of the money is donated by people who see Madsen and von Bengtson as stand-ins for their own dream fulfillment. So far 1,700 have contributed. In particular “Ingeniøren,” Denmark’s weekly paper for the technically minded, arranges fundraising presentations and regularly reports on the project. As a result, Peter Madsen has frequently received useful tips from aircraft mechanics and builders of catamarans.

ANYONE CAN DO SPACE FLIGHT
It wouldn’t be too difficult for the amateur astronauts to make more money from their idea. “Red Bull asked us if they could use the rocket for their advertising,” says von Bengtson. “But we prefer to be independent. We want to show that fundamentally, space flight is something anyone can do.” That’s why there are no secrets at the Copenhagen rocket factory: The cork mats that provide insulation come from the do-it-yourself store, as do the standard stainless sheets used in the rocket propulsion system. Anyone who is interested can watch the two at work. Students from the Technical University often come and help. Another two or three years, von Bengtson estimates, and Tycho Brahe will be fully tested and ready for its first manned flight. He’ll let Madsen be the first Danish astronaut: “He doesn’t have children.”

First of all, however, the next unmanned launch is scheduled for mid-June, somewhere in the Baltic Sea. The problem with the hairdryer has been fixed. The heating system for the valve through which the liquid oxygen passes at minus 183 degrees Celsius has been improved, and a more powerful battery will safeguard the power supply.

Text: Philipp Mausshardt, Photos: Uffe Weng
Bilfinger Berger Magazine 2/2011