Zingst

. Zingst Peninsula extends eastward nearly 20 kilometres and has a width of just 2 to 4 kilometres.

Zingst separates the Baltic Sea from the Bodden Inlet, which belongs to the Darß-Zingster-Boddenkette (Darß-Zingst Bodden Chain), a large or estuary [http://www.pml.ac.uk/biomare/sites/Darß-Zingst.htm] . The shallow waters of the inlet are a major rest stop for the migratory European cranes. In spring and fall, up to 3,000 birds gather there before their migration to and from Spain [http://www.stadt-barth.de/tourismus/e_darss.html] [http://www.vorpommern.de/1/index_521.htm] . Most of the estuary and the eastern end of the peninsula are part of the National Park Vorpommersche Boddenlandschaft (Western Pomerania Lagoon Area National Park).

Until the early 1870's, Zingst was an island, separated from Darß by the Prerowstrom, a narrow strait. A storm tide in 1874 closed the strait, which had connected Bodden Inlet and the Baltic Sea. A road now connects Zingst and Darß on a 100 metre wide land bridge.

The soils of Zingst consist almost entirely of sand. The sand is white in colour which makes it popular with sunbathers and tourists. Dunes border the Baltic Sea and enclose low ground about half a metre below sea level. The low land results in swampy conditions in the interior of the peninsula, and these swamps offer habitat to a wide variety of wilfdlife [http://www.howtogermany.com/pages/beaches.html] . There are also ruins of Slavic fortifications, the Hertesburg are on Zingster side.

ettlement

East of the Prerowstrom, surrounded by countryside and the Freesenbruchs, is the town of Bath (population 8,000), which was created by the unification of the settlements of Pahlen, Hanshagen and Rothem ho. Hanshagen and Pahlen date from the 13th Century.

The nearby town of Zingst has a population of about 3,200.

Rocket Experiments

During the Cold War, when the area was part of East Germany, the eastern part of the peninsula was a restricted military area, used for meteorological rocket experiments. Various experiments were conducted between 1970 and 1992 in an area known as Sundi Meadows. There were 5 launches of the Polish rocket "Meteor 1E" in the early 1970's. On October 21, 1988 launches of Russian of the "MMR06-M" type rockets began. The restricted area measured just 23.6 kilometres by 25.5 kilometers. As the rockets reached heights up to 80 kilometres, the launch angle of the unguided rockets had to be determined with an accuracy of 2 degrees in order to prevent an impact outside of the restricted area.

The first launches of MMR06-M rockets were not successful due to various technical difficulties. The first successful launch with a meteorological payload occurred on April 12, 1989. Additional launches continued for a short time after the fall of the Berlin Wall and German reunification (October 3, 1990). They were finally ended on December 19, 1990 for safety and technological reasons.

Nevertheless, between February 14, 1992 and April 10, 1992 a total of 19 Russian rockets of the MMR06-M type were launched at Zingst, of which 6 were successful. Although further rockets were still available for testing, the launches of MMR06-M rockets in Zingst were stopped in April 1992 because of the removal of German Federal Armed Forces from the place.

List of Launches

"Remarks:" S = Success; PS = Partial Success; F = Failure; EF = Experiment Failure

ources

* http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/mmr06.htm
* http://www.astronautix.com/sites/zingst.htm
* http://www.nilu.no/projects/ccc/sitedescriptions/de/de09.html
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?t=k&ll=54.434484,12.803192&spn=0.010608,0.029268&om=1 Satellite picture of former launch site]

External links

* [http://www.zingst.de/2004/zingst/content/01_zingst/0109.html Zingst Webcam]