Oberth's book on rocketry. Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) was a German space travel pioneer. In 1922, his doctoral dissertation was rejected. He had it privately published in 1923 as Die Rakete zu den Planetenraumen (By Rocket into Planetary Space). It was later expanded as Ways to travel in Space (1929). Oberth's books established the basis for the technology of manned spaceflight. Many of his inventions and suggestions were used in the design of the first rockets launched by the USA and the USSR.