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German V-2

Published May 22, 2015

The rocket engine used in a German V-2 missile during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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The rocket engine used in a German V-2 missile during World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo)

Launch of a German V-2 rocket by American personnel at White Sands Proving Ground, N.M., March 1948. Americans gained much in the way of knowledge and experience by launching captured V-2s. (U.S. Air Force photo)
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Launch of a German V-2 rocket by American personnel at White Sands Proving Ground, N.M., March 1948. Americans gained much in the way of knowledge and experience by launching captured V-2s. (U.S. Air Force photo)

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Much of the basic theory used by German scientists in the development of the engine for the V-2 came from experimentation by Dr. Robert Goddard in the United States. Post-war American liquid fueled rocket engines evolved directly from the German V-2 engine; later U.S. Air Force space boosters owed much to this engine and the improvements that followed.

In February 1949 an American WAC (Without Altitude Control) Corporal second stage rocket carried atop a modified V-2 booster sent a payload 250 miles into the vacuum of space on a short suborbital flight. Mankind had taken its first real step into space.

Click here to return to the V-2 Rocket page.

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