Oct. 3 marks 70 years since the V-2 rocket was first launched
Oct. 3 will mark 70 years since the first V-2 rocket was launched. It is considered to be the world’s first long-range combat missile and was used in deadly attacks on England by the Germans in the closing months of WWII. The V-2 rocket is the precursor to rockets developed in the lead up to the arms and space travel races. The photos below are from the Getty Images archive.
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- On October 03, 2012, it will be 70 years since the first V-2 rocket was launched. The V-2 rocket was a ballistic missile that was developed at the beginning of the WWII in Germany and was the world’s first long-range combat missile. Above, a V-2 rocket was on display in Trafalgar Square, London in 1945. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
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- Soldiers of the U.S. Army at Bomskirchen, Germany, inspect the control mechanism of a captured V-2 bomb. (Seigman/Getty Images).
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- March 9, 1945: The scene at Farringdon St Market in London the day after a V-2 rocket landed killing 380 people. (Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)
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- 1945: A German V-2 rocket ready for launching at Cuxhaven in Luneburg district, Lower Saxony. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
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- 1944: The German V-2 long-range missile, forerunner of the modern space launch rockets, before launch at Cuxhaven. (Fox Photos/Getty Images)
FROM THE ARCHIVES | RELATED LINKS
1990: WASHINGTON. — TRUTH in labeling has achieved a rare breakthrough in an exhibit of military rocketry at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, a temple where tradition has called for bland captions on horrifying instruments of war.
A recent visit revealed that on one exhibit a striking change has been quietly installed. It’s the exhibit of the terror weapon Hitler unleashed in the finale to World War II, the V-2 rocket, which killed thousands of civilians in France, Belgium and Britain.
Read More: These Things Hurt People?
1999: BALTIMORE. — Considered an expert in experimental fabrication of weapons, Markus O. Corn was assigned temporarily in 1945 to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. There, he worked with Wernher von Braun, the famed German rocket pioneer who was a major force in developing the V-2 rocket that was used to bomb London during the closing days of World War II.
After the war, Mr. von Braun and his team surrendered to U.S. forces and were sent to White Sands, where they voluntarily tested and worked on captured V-2s and developed the Saturn booster rocket that landed Apollo 11 astronauts on the moon in 1969.
Read More: Markus O. Corn, 92, sheet metal worker who helped develop V-2 rocket for U.S.
MORE LINKS
History.com: Germany conducts first successful V-2 rocket test
National Air and Space Museum: Hypersonic Flight
National Air and Space Museum: V-2 Rocket Engine Combustion Chamber cutaway
National Air and Space Museum: Trajectories of Space Flight
Marshal Space Flight Center: Audio interview with Wernher von Braun
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