Fly Rocket Fly

Elon Musk and his company SpaceX aren't the first private venture to attempt to make it into outer space. This is the amazing story of Lutz Kayser, an aerospace engineer from southwestern Germany, who founded a private company, OTRAG.

Lutz Kayser and a group of friends establish a private space company called OTRAG, which aims to shake up the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union by competing with “low cost instead of advanced technology.” Kayser's company has a government grant, crowdfunding, and 100,000 km2 of land in Africa — a gift from the dictator of Zaire — to conduct rocket tests. And although world powers view Germany's space ambitions with suspicion, OTRAG is not giving up on its plans.