V2 rocket

The V-2 ( German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2"), technical name Aggregat 4 (A4), was the world's first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Germany as a "vengeance weapon", assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings against German cities. The V-2 rocket also became the first man-made object to travel into space by crossing the Kármán line with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.

Aggregat-4/Vergeltungswaffe-2 Fusée V2.jpg Peenemünde Museum replica of V-2 Type Single-stage ballistic missile Place of origin Nazi Germany Service history In service 1944–1952 Used by German Army SS Post-war: United Kingdom United States Soviet Union

Production history Designer Peenemünde Army Research Center Manufacturer Mittelwerk GmbH Unit cost 100,000 RM January 1944, 50,000 RM March 1945[1] Produced 16 March 1942 – 1945 (Germany) Some assembled post-war Specifications Weight 12,500 kg (27,600 lb) Length 14 m (45 ft 11 in) Diameter 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) Warhead 1,000 kg (2,200 lb); Amatol (explosive weight: 910 kg) Detonation mechanism Impact Wingspan 3.56 m (11 ft 8 in) Propellant 3,810 kg (8,400 lb) 75% ethanol, 25% water 4,910 kg (10,820 lb) liquid oxygen Operational range 320 km (200 mi) Flight altitude 88 km (55 mi) maximum altitude on long-range trajectory, 206 km (128 mi) maximum altitude if launched vertically Speed Maximum: 5,760 km/h (3,580 mph)

At impact: 2,880 km/h (1,790 mph) Guidance system Gyroscopes to determine direction Müller-type pendulous gyroscopic accelerometer for engine cutoff on most production rockets:225 Launch platform Mobile (Meillerwagen) Research into military use of long range rockets began when the studies of graduate student Wernher von Braun attracted the attention of the German Army. A series of prototypes culminated in the A-4, which went to war as the V-2. Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets, first London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a 2011 BBC documentary, the attacks from V2s resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, and a further 12,000 forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners died as a result of their forced participation in the production of the weapons.

As Germany collapsed, teams from the Allied forces—the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union—raced to capture key German manufacturing sites and technology. Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered to the Americans. Eventually, many of the original V-2 team ended up working at the Redstone Arsenal. The US also captured enough V-2 hardware to build approximately 80 of the missiles. The Soviets gained possession of the V-2 manufacturing facilities after the war, re-established V-2 production, and moved it to the Soviet Union.