Upcoming Slovenian 2013 docudrama "Houston We Have a Problem" will reveal one of the biggest secrets of space race during cold war - Yugoslavian space program and it's crucial impact to USA effort to catch the USSR in the Space Race.
Post WWII Yugoslavian leadership made rapid development based on unknown diaries of Yugoslav and world space pioneer Herman Potocnik - Noordung. Technical solutions described in Potocnik's unpublished papers were the basis for establishing secret Yugoslavian space programme in 1948, after Josip Broz Tito's conflict with Stalin.
In late 1960, CIA discovered that Yugoslavia already had an operational space-flight technology.
In March 1961 Yugoslavia secretly sold complete space programme to USA.
In May 1961, Kennedy announced USA choose to go to the Moon.
Directed by Academy Award nominated Slovenian director Ziga Virc, this documentary will reveal the reasons for Yugoslavian leader and post WWII lifetime president Josip Broz Tito to build and maintain the biggest secret underground space centre in Europe, in army base Zeljava with code name "Object 505".
Huston We Have A Problem Movie Trailer
About Herman Potocnik Noodrung
Much more about Herman Potocnik and his book is available on the dedicated site here
NASA 1995 english publication of the Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor book available here
YouTube movie about Zeljava airbase and Object 505 from Yugoslavian TV in '80s
Zeljava and Object 505 today, 15 years after the ex-Yugoslavia war > post on Croatian forum with photographs
>> for easier understanding of the subject:
Modern Yugoslavia ended in 1991 with terminating of the federal state and establishing of independence of the Yugoslavian republics: Slovenia (authors of documentary are Slovenians), Croatia (Zeljava airbase is today on Croatian territory and Croatian capital Zagreb was the main centre for aeronautics and nuclear researches in Yugoslavia), Bosnia and Herzegovina (underground parts of the base partially lies on Bosnian territory), Serbia (Yugoslav capital of Belgrade and main military development centre was there), Montenegro and Macedonia.
Worth noticing is another subject, similar in significancy - Yugoslav Nuclear Weapon Development Programme, also ceased in 60's without any particular reason. Conspiracy theorists believe how nuclear programme was only a shadow-curtain for the development of the space programme, all ended after Tito and Kennedy negotiated the exchange of the developments for economic funds.
"Houston We Have a Problem" will be presented in early 2013.
Post WWII Yugoslavian leadership made rapid development based on unknown diaries of Yugoslav and world space pioneer Herman Potocnik - Noordung. Technical solutions described in Potocnik's unpublished papers were the basis for establishing secret Yugoslavian space programme in 1948, after Josip Broz Tito's conflict with Stalin.
In late 1960, CIA discovered that Yugoslavia already had an operational space-flight technology.
In March 1961 Yugoslavia secretly sold complete space programme to USA.
In May 1961, Kennedy announced USA choose to go to the Moon.
Directed by Academy Award nominated Slovenian director Ziga Virc, this documentary will reveal the reasons for Yugoslavian leader and post WWII lifetime president Josip Broz Tito to build and maintain the biggest secret underground space centre in Europe, in army base Zeljava with code name "Object 505".
Huston We Have A Problem Movie Trailer
About Herman Potocnik Noodrung
At the end of 1928, he published his sole book, Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor (The Problem of Space Travel - The Rocket Motor) in Berlin. The publisher, Richard Carl Schmidt, printed the year 1929 as a publishing date, probably from a purely business motive (to keep the book looking new throughout the coming year) and this date is often mistakenly given as the actual date of publication. In 188 pages and 100 handmade illustrations, Potočnik set out a plan for a breakthrough into space and the establishment of a permanent human presence there. He conceived a space station in detail and was the first man to calculate the geostationary orbit, on which the station would orbit the Earth. He described the use of orbiting spacecraft for detailed observation of the ground for peaceful and military purposes, and described how the special conditions of space could be useful for scientific experiments.[1] Potočnik expressed strong doubts of the potentially destructive military use of these fresh discoveries.
With his many ideas he became one of the founders of astronautics. His concepts were first taken seriously only by the amateur rocketry movement in Germany, the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR - "Spaceflight Society"), centered on Hermann Oberth and his co-workers. In its Russian edition, the book may also have influenced Sergey Korolev's circle. More locally, Viennese engineers dismissed his work as fantasy.
Potočnik's book described geostationary satellites (first put forward by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky) and discussed communication between them and the ground using radio, but fell short of the idea of using satellites for mass broadcasting and as telecommunications relays (developed by Arthur C. Clarke in his Wireless World article of 1945). The wheel-shaped space station served as an inspiration for further development by Wernher von Braun (another former VfR member) in 1952. Von Braun saw orbiting space stations as a stepping stone to travel to other planets. In 1968, Stanley Kubrick's ground-breaking film, 2001: A Space Odyssey, depicted such a role for "Space Station V".
Wikipedia link
Much more about Herman Potocnik and his book is available on the dedicated site here
NASA 1995 english publication of the Das Problem der Befahrung des Weltraums - der Raketen-Motor book available here
YouTube movie about Zeljava airbase and Object 505 from Yugoslavian TV in '80s
Zeljava and Object 505 today, 15 years after the ex-Yugoslavia war > post on Croatian forum with photographs
>> for easier understanding of the subject:
Modern Yugoslavia ended in 1991 with terminating of the federal state and establishing of independence of the Yugoslavian republics: Slovenia (authors of documentary are Slovenians), Croatia (Zeljava airbase is today on Croatian territory and Croatian capital Zagreb was the main centre for aeronautics and nuclear researches in Yugoslavia), Bosnia and Herzegovina (underground parts of the base partially lies on Bosnian territory), Serbia (Yugoslav capital of Belgrade and main military development centre was there), Montenegro and Macedonia.
Worth noticing is another subject, similar in significancy - Yugoslav Nuclear Weapon Development Programme, also ceased in 60's without any particular reason. Conspiracy theorists believe how nuclear programme was only a shadow-curtain for the development of the space programme, all ended after Tito and Kennedy negotiated the exchange of the developments for economic funds.
"Houston We Have a Problem" will be presented in early 2013.