Noordung's “Wohnrad” – the precursor to rotating space station architecture

Abstract

The drawings of a rotating space station, introduced by Hermann Potočnik, known as Noordung, in his book The Problem of Space Travel in 1929, mark a milestone in the history of spaceflight concepts. While scientists and rocket engineers like Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Hermann Oberth and others had already discussed the concept of a spacestation in the 1880s, Noordung presented the first detailed technical description and drawings of a space station. Many of these ideas have propelled other interesting concepts for rotating space stations. This paper provides an overview of the rotating wheel-shaped space station concept, with a special attention to the ‘Wohnrad’ and the ‘Observatory’, and its interior architectural design features. It provides information about its historical context, and the dissemination of this concept by figures such as Wernher von Braun and the artist Chesley Bonestell, and others, who promoted the vision of a spacestation to the general public in the 1950s. The unique part of this paper is the re-assessment of its space-architectural concept, based on a digital reconstruction of Noordung's space station. The original drawings, plans, images, and textual descriptions from Noordung's book were translated into a detailed three-dimensional virtual model. The model was subsequently produced as a physical prototype using 3D printing. Through this process of reconstructing the station's geometry, new insights emerged regarding the overall architectural concept — including the proportional relationships between the different habitat modules, spatial layout, and operational logic. Additionally, the reconstruction revealed unexpected findings related to the interior architecture and functional use of space, allowing us to better understand Noordung's design intentions and evaluate the feasibility of his concept from a contemporary perspective. This research deepens the historical understanding of early space habitat concepts, and also provides valuable lessons for future rotating space habitats and the evolving field of space architecture.