Herman Potočnik

Slovenian Space Pioneer

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As early as 1928, Herman Potočnik, a soldier, engineer and specialist in rocket technology, in his book The Problem of Space Travel - Rocket Motor, planned and described in detail man's advance into space and the original solutions for his stay in zero-gravity.

The first space architect designed the so-far unrealized idea of an International Geostationary Space Station with artificial gravity constructed from three elements: an observatory, an engine room with a solar power plant and a habitat wheel that would hover about 35,900 kilometres above the Earth. The station is supposed to create artificial gravity by rotating evenly around its axis and providing similar living conditions as on Earth.

A visitor to the Noordung Centre in Vitanje can discover Noordung's ideas and the universe itself. The centre is designed as a futuristic building - a copy of the engineer's description of the first geostationary space station. As in the geostationary orbit, the architecture of the building includes an observatory, a solar power plant and a habitat wheel. The Noordung Centre continues its mission of inhabiting the space, hosts internationally acclaimed exhibitions and is dedicated to network companies in the field of space technology.

Potočnik\'s ideas were the ones that influenced Stanley Kubrick\'s cult film A Space Odyssey from 1968. In addition, Noordung\'s book has been shown to influence German, American, and Russian space development.
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