Editing Weltraumgruppen (section)

== Origins and formation ==
{{Main|History of the Weltraumgruppen}}
{{See also|Operation Sternzug}}

The Tanoa Einsatzgruppen began its rocket program after the German surrender on 8 May 1945. Allied forces were taking custody of German rocket personnel and technical records at the time. Tanoa could not participate openly in the occupation of Germany, so Jan Paap authorized Operation Sternzug to obtain the same expertise through covert routes. [[Glöbbery]] organized false identities and altered prisoner files. Its network also arranged concealed transport from occupied Germany. Argentine contacts received personnel and technical cargo before their transfer to Tanoa. These contacts extended the Patagonian network through which [[Jan Paap]] had formed the [[Argentine Einsatz]] in 1944.<ref name="argentine-einsatz"/>

The first copied V-2 archive reached Tanoan custody in June 1945. A core Peenemünde group led by [[Walter Dornberger]] and [[Wernher von Braun]] was moved through the network during the following two months. Technical personnel travelled through northern Italy before the first convoy reached Argentina in August. The group arrived in Tanoa in February 1946. Substitute prisoners and altered custody records concealed the removals, while controlled public appearances preserved the postwar careers attributed to the personnel outside Tanoa.

The [[Raketenstelle Alt-Georgetown]] was established in May 1951 to translate the recovered test records and adapt V-2 designs to equipment available in Tanoa. Under Dornberger's military command and von Braun's scientific direction, the German team converted those designs into launch procedures. Guidance and propulsion engineers then adapted the components for production in Tanoa. On 4 October 1956, the Oberkommando absorbed the rocket office into the newly created Weltraumgruppen. Dornberger became its first commander and von Braun became chief scientific architect. The branch retained the Georgetown archive as the technical basis for its first test facilities.

Testing moved from propulsion to complete vehicles during the late 1950s. The branch conducted its first successful static engine test at [[Prüfstand Tuvanaka-Nord]] on 18 March 1957, followed by a high-altitude launch from [[Startplatz Lijnhaven-Ost]] on 9 August 1958. The [[A-10 Georgetown]] placed the first Tanoan payload in orbit on 17 May 1963. A crewed mission followed on 22 November 1968, and [[Orbitalstation Paap I|Orbitalstation ''Paap I'']] entered service in June 1974.