Der Raketenmann – Wernher von Braun und der Traum vom Mond

Max Valier was a pioneer of space technology who caused an international sensation in Germany in the 1920s with spectacular rocket tests. It is the fantastic and tragic story of a tumbler who fought tirelessly for the idea of space travel despite all resistance. Valier died at the age of 35 in one of his experiments with novel fuels, he is considered the first victim of space travel. Filmmaker Thomas Hanifle embarks on a voyage of discovery that takes him from Bolzano to Berlin. There he visits original locations, rumbles in archives, accompanies students in rebuilding Valier's rocket engines and meets experts. He investigates the questions as to why Valier obsessively worked to reach the star world and subordinate everything to it. Was he a visionary or just a fantasist, as his contemporaries called him? What role did Valier's research play in Hitler's rocket weapons? And what remains of Max Valier today?