Some background on Peter Madsen (and my friend).
http://nyheder.tv2.dk/krimi/2017-08-26-her-er-portraettet-af-peter-madsen
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by David Buch
We draw a portrait of the killing rocket enthusiast whose name is on everyone's lips these days.
The reality has long exceeded the imagination in the case of the Swedish journalist Kim Wall, who disappeared on August 10 after a boat trip in the inventor Peter Madsen's submarine UC3 Nautilus.
46-year-old Peter Madsen is now imprisoned for negligent manslaughter on Kim Wall, whose body has been arrested. Her torso was found in the water next to Amager on 21 August. In addition, he is charged with killing and unfair interaction with the body.
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The 'Raket-Madsen' is guilty and tells that Kim Wall died as a result of an accident on Nautilus. He acknowledges having "buried her at sea".
"He has a challenge in relation to working with others. He has a very military attitude.
Author Thomas Djursing
But who is he, this Peter Madsen - also called 'Rocket-Madsen'?
The author Thomas Djursing has written the portrait book 'Raket-Madsen'. In the preface, Thomas Djursing writes: "The story of Peter Madsen is the story of a man without a stop button."
Passion stems from the danger
Peter Madsen's passion for rockets stems from his father, trained carpenter and even a rocket nerd.
After a turbulent childhood, Peter Madsen's parents divorce when he is six years old.
Peter Madsen's explanations after submarine drama 3: 29
After a couple of years at the mother and his new boyfriend, little Peter moves home to his old father.
The father often tells Peter about fascinating space missiles and trips to the Moon. Peter is drawn from the stories and begins to experiment with homemade herbs for rockets and hydrogen balloons. In his school he is perceived as something of a nerd.
A single buckle
He rarely participates in class celebrations and has almost no companions. On the other hand, he is deeply immersed in rocket science.
In the 7th grade, the work begins to build a rocket 'to achieve extreme heights', as Peter Madsen himself has previously formulated.
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At Høng Kommuneskole, Peter Madsen enjoys himself in physics and chemistry. He absorbs knowledge and the best teachers from the parallel class are questioned about possible fuels for rockets when they have a guard in the quay, Peter Madsen says in the book 'Raket-Madsen'.
"There was especially a teacher at my school, Johannes Fischer, who knew everything about chemistry. He did not teach in my class, but in the quarters when he was a guardsman, I could go over to him and say something in the direction of: "O., Fischer. Today's topic for this courtyard is how we get perchlorates. "
Johannes Fischer remembers the little Peter and describes him as 'very alive' and 'unusually curious about physics'.
First rocket built on a planetary bench
On March 3, 1986, Peter's first big rocket is ready to be launched over Høng. It is built on the father's old planetary bench in the workshop.
The rocket is just over a meter high and the premiere is the American weapons of mass destruction MX Peacekeeper. It is thick and black with a long and rounded nose cone.
Peter Madsen at his workshop in Albertslund, July 3, 1999.
Peter Madsen in his workshop in Albertslund, July 3, 1999. Photo: Linda Kastrup / Scanpix Denmark
On a small grass area behind the football pitches at Høng Kommuneskole - as Peter baptises the Cape Cosmos - he sets up the rocket.
Just before sunset, Peter turns on the lantern.
The rocket lightens in a big smoke cloud, and with a long flame afterwards it stretches vertically to the weather. The rocket is stable and the fuel burns out at about 100 meters. The rocket stands still in the air for a moment, slows a little, turns the nose cone down and comes to a halt.
16 meters from the launch ramp, the rocket drill into a ditch next to the football pitches.
Peter exclaims.
Herointrip in 90 mm celluloid
From 7th grade he fights indifferently to be approved for high school, and in 1987 he is admitted to Kalundborg Gymnasium. A big win.
With his physics team, he experiences the newly opened Tycho Brahe Planetarium in Copenhagen. On the huge round canvas, the students are taken on a tour around the Discovery spacecraft and into space for the astronauts at the International Space Station.
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"It was a fierce, almost physical, impression. I do not know what my classmates did - but I was on a herointrip in 90 mm celluloid, says Peter Madsen in the portrait book.
In the Copenhagen rocket club DARK, the experiments are really waving for the young high school student, but it's not at no cost.
"The people in DARK can not keep up with his wilder and wilder ideas. They see the rockets as a cozy leisure project. But Peter does not have leisure projects. He only has projects and they fill everything. So in DARK you end up hating him. As you said at that time, if you say his name, the sprinkler system goes on.
Living for a 'war economy'
Peter Madsen never manages to complete a real education, but takes on continuous welding courses and also starts an engineering training - for example, to cultivate his new great passion, submarines.
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Thomas Djursing talks to TV 2:
- When he built his first submarine, he lived for a year on the floor in a garage where he built the submarine - to save costs. He has always said he is living for a 'war economy'.
Peter Madsen's first submarine Freya will be launched in 2002. It is followed by the somewhat bigger Kraka, and in 2008 the dream culminates in the launch of the world's largest amateur council, Nautilus.
The meeting with von Bengtson
That same year, Peter Madsen receives an inquiry from architect Kristian von Bengtson, who has accidentally fallen over a note in the paper about Peter Madsen, who wants to build his own space rocket.
Kristian von Bengtson (television) and Peter Madsen (th) at a press conference in 2010.
Kristian von Bengtson (television) and Peter Madsen (th) at a press conference in 2010. Photo: Keld Navntoft / Scanpix
Kristian von Bengtson has worked with space architecture at Nasa and the European Space Agency, ESA.
The two agree to meet. Peter Madsen lives and works aboard an old scrap ferry in Copenhagen's South Port.
"It was a dark night and I walked around this old old ship to find him. He was in the middle of doing something, screaming with something that he so relaxed when I arrived, says Kristian von Bengtson in Politics Podcast Life on Mars.
- Love at first sight
Peter Madsen has just finished building Nautilus. 18 meter long, cigar-shaped and coal-fired with cove and water under the water.
"My wife thinks it was love at first glance. It may also be, it has been, says von Bengtson.
Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson test the first Danish space raid on Refshale Island in 2010.
Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson test the first Danish space raid on Refshale Island in 2010. Photo: Linda Kastrup / Scanpix
"At times, it was difficult to keep up with what Peter did - and the amount of thoughts that dropped out of his head," says Kristian von Bengtson in the podcast.
Already the first night, the two helpless characters draw sketches over their first common space. It is during the late night hours when Kristian von Bengtson walks out of the 'Raket-Madsens' submarine. With a drawing under the arm and a big smile on the lip.
- The plan was really clear - to find out if you could build your own space rocket. And then we would shoot Peter out into the room. There was no discussion about what we should do now. This was the case, says Kristian von Bengtson.
A nerded community
It was the beginning of the probably most ambitious private space program in world history. Together, Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson establish the Copenhagen Suborbitals organization - a nerded community for rider enthusiasts.
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The two rocket builders make the world around them aware of what they are doing. They make a website with daily updates on the project - and the opportunity to donate money. Quickly, the interest of the outside world begins to grow.
- There are several who read about it. There are more who care about it than ever and there is more money going into the project than ever before in history, Peter Madsen says in Life on the Mars podcast.
The two become celebrities - at least in a consecrated circle. When they open the house, there are hundreds of people who want to take pictures with the two main characters.
"It was Paradise Hotel for engineers," recalls Kristian von Bengtson.
Sleeping under his lathe
The association of rumnets grows fast with more than 50 volunteers, a number of sponsors and about 1000 private donors.
As time passes, it becomes increasingly clear how different people Kristian von Bengtson and 'Raket-Madsen' are.
Peter Madsen tests his homemade centrifuge to expose him to 8G - or an acceleration of 0 to 250km / h in 1 second.
Peter Madsen tests his homemade centrifuge to expose him to 8G - or an acceleration of 0 to 250km / h in 1 second. Photo: Jens Nørgaard Larsen / ScanpixDanmark
"When we begin the project, I experience how Kristian comes in the morning and goes home in the evening. Here I realize that Kristian is a normal person. He works like normal people, explains Peter Madsen in the podcast.
"I always think Peter will wonder that someone could find out at 15.30 because they should pick up children in the kindergarten. It was probably a question of total dedication. That it was either or. So, he's sleeping out there under his lathe, he gets up, and that's what he's doing - and there's nothing to get in the way. Because that is his goal. Cost what it will, explains Kristian von Bengtson.
The years are testing rocket engines on the Refshale island. Rockets are shipped in the spring over Bornholm. Room capsules, space suits and parachutes are being tested.
The preparations for the final launch, where Peter Madsen is to be sent 100 kilometers up in the room, is in full swing.
The tension increases
But the tension rises between Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson - and between Peter Madsen and many of the members of the Copenhagen Suborbitals Association.
"It surprised him a lot that there were so many people with. They agreed to decide what Peter should be, "says Kristian von Bengtson, adding:
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"I remember my children were terrified of him. The times they met him he was throwing something or shouting and screaming because he had lost or lost something.
Peter Madsen is increasingly unable to accept that Kristian von Bengtson leaves the project in the afternoon to go home to his wife and two children.
- Now I have to go to the honest. I did not find it fair that we were not equally dedicated to the project, but that Kristian eventually took power over the project, and increasingly took the international image outwardly, "says Peter Madsen in Life on Mars.
The start at the end
It will be the beginning of Peter Madsen's commitment to Copenhagen Suborbitals.
A late night time, Kristian von Bengtson sends a letter to Peter Madsen, in which he writes that he retires as chairman and wants to leave the project. And so it will be.
Everyone in the association gives Peter Madsen a blame for Kristian von Bengtson's exit. And Madsen is forced to leave Copenhagen Suborbitals.
Peter Madsen photographed in 2003.
Peter Madsen photographed in 2003. Photo: Thomas Nielsen / Scanpix Denmark
Thomas Djursing recognizes this image of 'Rocket-Madsen'.
The author tells TV 2 that Peter Madsen can have a very cash approach:
"He has a challenge in relation to working with others. He has a very military attitude.
But Thomas Djursing also describes a person who, despite the uncompromising dedication to the projects, also has a soft, artistic side:
- He is a very loving person who thinks of others. He has a lyrical side and he is very busy with art. He is a part of artistic environments.
What happened that night in the submarine?
In 2014 Peter Madsen will launch funds from the Norwegian millionaire Georg Poul Artmann Raketmadsens Rum Laboratory ApS - with Peter Madsen as director.
Here Peter Madsen has since worked to develop the Alpha rocket. Following the plan, Alpha had been tested from the Baltic Sea to Bornholm on the weekend 25th-26th. August.
Apparently one of the last pictures of Peter Madsen and Kim Wall aboard Nautilus.
Apparently one of the last pictures of Peter Madsen and Kim Wall aboard Nautilus. Photo: PETER THOMPSON / Scanpix Denmark
'Rocket Madsens' submarine Nautilus should have shipped the rocket to Bornholm on a platform from Refshale Island.
As we know, this did not happen to go.