V2 rocket launch – GERMAN FEDERAL ARCHIVE / WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Oct. 3 () –
This October 3 marks the 80th anniversary of a V2 rocket launched from Peenemünde, Germany, in 1942 becoming the first human object to perform a suborbital flight. with 38 kilometers of altitude.
The progenitor of all modern rockets, the A-4 rocket, later known as the V-2, was a missile powered by a single-stage rocket motor using ethyl alcohol and liquid oxygen as fuels. It was 14 meters long and had a thrust of 28,000 kilos. Its load capacity was 1,100 kilos, being able to carry that load a distance of 140 kilometers. moving at a speed of 1,750 kilometers per hour.
Named for the Nazis Vergeltungswaffe Zwei (Weapon of Vengeance 2), this rocket was guided by a gyroscopic system that sent course correction signals to the stabilization planes and the booster jet nozzles. Its speed, much greater than the speed of sound, was more than enough to prevent it from being shot down in flight.
Conceived by the Nazis as ‘ultimate weapon’ to subdue Great Britain through its massive launch from the Dutch coast, the V2 could not be used in World War II until 1944, when Hitler’s Germany was already in the process of being defeated.
After the war, many V2s were transferred to the United States and the Soviet Union to implement their fledgling ballistic missile programs. In fact, it was used until 1952, according to Wikipedia. Its architect, Werner Von Brown, put himself at the service of the North Americans and, from NASA, ended up developing the Apollo program.
