Austrian rocketry pioneer. He helped found the German Verein für Raumschiffahrt (VfR - "Spaceflight Society") that would bring together many of the minds that would later make spaceflight a reality in the twentieth century. He was killed less than a month later when an alcohol-fueled rocket exploded on his test bench in Berlin. Fountain pen signature on a white 3.25 x 1.5 sheet, affixed to a larger sheet beneath two newspaper photos of the pioneer. Accompanied by a sepia, glossy photo of Valier and others surrounding his Opel. In fine condition. In 1928 and 1929 he worked with Fritz von Opel on a number of rocket-powered cars and aircraft. For von Opel, these were publicity stunts for the Opel company, and for Valier, a way of further raising interest in rocketry amongst the general population. It was Valier who enlisted the assistance of Friedrich Sander in these endeavours as the supplier of solid-fuel rocket motors. By the late 1920s, the VfR was focussing its efforts on liquid-fuelled rockets. Their first successful test firing with liquid fuel (five minutes) occurred in the Heylandt plant on January 25, 1930. On April 19, 1930, he performed the first test drive of a rocket car with liquid propulsion, the Valier-Heylandt Rak 7. R&R COA.
