The association was founded on the initiative of the german rocket pioneer Karl Poggensee (1909-1980) on September 21, 1952 by eleven rocket specialists as the Deutsche Agentur für Raumfahrtangelegenheiten (DAFRA) under the motto "to promote the peaceful exploration and development of space".
Its founders were of the opinion that the company they had set up should be dedicated to developing rockets and using them exclusively for peaceful purposes, and that the Federal Republic of Germany should make a contribution to space research.
The Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH developed several two- and three-stage rockets, which could reach heights of up to 150 kilometers, between 1962 and 1963.
After a disputed flight demonstration of the Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH militarily usable rockets before military representatives from non-NATO states at Cuxhaven on December 5, 1963, a break between the Seliger Forschungs- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft mbH and the Deutsche Raketen-Gesellschaft occurred.
In 1963, with the consent of Hermann Oberth, who had rendered outstanding service to Space, it was decided to rename the DRG to Hermann-Oberth-Gesellschaft (HOG).