OTRAG (, or ), was a German company based in Stuttgart, which in the late 1970s and early 1980s planned to develop an alternative propulsion system for rockets. OTRAG was the first commercial developer and producer of space launch vehicles. The OTRAG Rocket claimed to present an inexpensive alternative to existing launch systems through mass-production of Common Rocket Propulsion Units (CRPU). History OTRAG was founded on October 17, 1974 by the German aerospace engineer . OTRAG's goal was to develop, produce, and operate a low-cost satellite launch vehicle. It was the first private company to attempt to launch a private spacecraft. The OTRAG rocket was intended to be an inexpensive alternative to the European rocket Ariane and the NASA Space Shuttle. Kayser and a private consortium of six hundred European investors financed the development and production of the OTRAG satellite launch vehicle. Dr. Kurt H. Debus served as Chairman of the Board of OTRAG (1974–1980) after his retirement as director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, and Dr. Wernher von Braun served as scientific adviser to Kayser. In the face of doubts by Debus and von Braun, Kayser chose in 1975 to set up testing and launch facilities in Shaba, Zaire (now Katanga Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo). Debus and von Braun were concerned about the possibility of Zairian acquisition of missile technology from the facilities. Kayser decided to proceed despite their opposition. Otrag's first test was on May 17, 1977, with the second successful launch on May 20, 1978. The third test failed on June 5, with Zairian President Mobutu Sese Seko watching the launch. Political pressure to halt the company's operations mounted quickly. France and the Soviet Union were historically opposed to German long-distance rocket development, and pressured the Zairian government into closing down the development facility in 1979. Immediately afterwards, Presidents Giscard d'Estaing of France and Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union convinced the West German government to cancel the OTRAG project and close down its German operations. In 1980, OTRAG moved its production and testing facilities to a desert site in Libya. A series of successful tests were conducted at this site beginning in 1981. OTRAG shut down in 1987. As the company left Libya, Muammar Gaddafi confiscated all equipment and installations, hoping to later use the technology, and German investors lost their money. Rocket design OTRAG was a design quite different from conventional