Max Valier
Austrian inventor Max Valier is one of the names credited with inventing the Opel RAK, which was the world’s first rocket-powered aircraft. While these vehicles weren’t used for the types of intergalactic missions you’d normally associate with rocket-powered vehicles of the modern-day, they still got some pretty serious air. The first-ever Opel RAK aircraft (seen in the photo here) was able to fly a solid 47 mph during its maiden flight in March of 1928.
About two years after this first flight, Valier had moved on to experimenting with liquid propulsion fuel, which ended up being… not the best choice: he was eventually killed on May 7th, 1930 when the alcohol-based fuel in one of his rockets ignited on the test bench, exploding and taking Valier with it.
