OTRAG

OTRAG, short for Orbital Transport und Raketen Aktiengesellschaft, was a West German rocket company headquartered in Stuttgart, founded on October 17, 1974 by aerospace engineer Lutz Kayser, with former NASA Kennedy Space Center director Kurt Debus chairing its board from 1974 to 1980 and Wernher von Braun serving as scientific adviser. The company developed a modular satellite launch rocket built from clusters of mass produced, standardized pressure fed propulsion units, intended to be far cheaper than conventional launch vehicles of similar capability. OTRAG tested small rockets from bases in Shaba, Zaire between 1975 and 1979 and later from Libya between 1981 and 1983, reaching altitudes of twenty to fifty kilometers, before pressure from France and the Soviet Union ended its Zaire operations and Libya's government confiscated its remaining equipment in 1987, ending the project.