Editing V-2 rocket (section)

== Post-war use ==

At the end of the war, a competition began between the United States and the [[Soviet Union|USSR]] to retrieve as many V-2 rockets and staff as possible.<ref>"We Want with the West", ''Time Magazine'', 9 December 1946.</ref> Three hundred rail-car loads of V-2s and parts were captured and shipped to the United States and 126 of the principal designers, including Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger, were captives of the Americans. Von Braun, his brother [[Magnus von Braun]], and seven others decided to surrender to the United States military ([[Operation Paperclip]]) to ensure they were not captured by the advancing Soviets or shot dead by the Nazis to prevent their capture.<ref>{{cite web |title=Wernher von Braun |date=2 May 2001 |url=http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/vonBraun/vonbraun_3.php |access-date=4 July 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823183825/http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/vonBraun/vonbraun_3.php |archive-date=23 August 2009 }}</ref>

After the Nazi defeat, German engineers were relocated to the United States, the USSR, France and the United Kingdom where they further developed the V-2 rocket for military and civilian purposes.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hqADewyvEVQC&pg=PA35 |title=Space Policy in Developing Countries: The Search for Security and Development on the Final Frontier |publisher=Routledge |year=2012 |pages=34–35 |author=Robert C. Harding |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920143537/https://books.google.com/books?id=hqADewyvEVQC&pg=PA35 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |isbn=978-1-136-25789-6}}</ref> The V-2 rocket also laid the foundation for the liquid fuel missiles and space launchers used later.<ref>{{cite book |author=Paul I. Casey |title=APOLLO: A Decade of Achievement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_9oiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |year=2013 |publisher=JS Blume |page=19 |isbn=978-0-9847163-0-2 |access-date=9 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170920143537/https://books.google.com/books?id=_9oiAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA19 |archive-date=20 September 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Main|V-2 sounding rocket}}

[[File:Bumper8 launch-GPN-2000-000613.jpg|thumb|US test launch of a [[Bumper (rocket)|''Bumper'' V-2]].]]

[[Operation Paperclip]] recruited German engineers and [[Operation Paperclip#Similar operations|Special Mission V-2]] transported the captured V-2 parts to the United States. At the close of the Second World War, more than 300 rail cars filled with V-2 engines, [[fuselage]]s, [[propellant]] tanks, gyroscopes, and associated equipment were brought to the railyards in [[Las Cruces, New Mexico]], so they could be placed on trucks and driven to the [[White Sands Proving Grounds]], also in [[New Mexico]].

In addition to V-2 hardware, the U.S. Government delivered German mechanization equations for the V-2 guidance, navigation, and control systems, as well as for advanced development concept vehicles, to U.S. defence contractors for analysis. During the 1950s, some of these documents were useful to U.S. contractors in developing direction cosine matrix transformations and other inertial navigation architecture concepts that were applied to early U.S. programs, such as the Atlas and Minuteman guidance systems as well as the Navy's Subs Inertial Navigation System.<ref>{{cite web|title=V2 Information|url=http://v2.x-factorial.com/|work=X-Factorial.com|access-date=14 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214234047/http://v2.x-factorial.com/|archive-date=14 December 2013}}</ref>

A committee was formed with military and civilian scientists to review payload proposals for the reassembled V-2 rockets. By January 1946, the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps invited civilian scientists and engineers to participate in developing a space research program using the V-2. The committee was initially named the [[Upper Atmosphere Research Panel|"V2 Rocket Panel"]], then the "V2 Upper Atmosphere Research Panel", and finally the "Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel".<ref>See: Johan A.M. Bleeker, Johannes Geiss, and Martin C.E. Huber, ed.s, ''The Century of Space Science'', vol. 1 (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001) [https://books.google.com/books?id=NMk3adgqfawC&pg=PA41 p. 41.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428123850/https://books.google.com/books?id=NMk3adgqfawC&pg=PA41 |date=28 April 2016 }} See also: [http://www.spaceline.org/history/6.html SpaceLine.org] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113104258/http://spaceline.org/history/6.html |date=13 November 2012 }}</ref> This resulted in an eclectic array of experiments that flew on V-2s and helped prepare for American manned [[space exploration]]. Devices were sent aloft to sample the air at all levels to determine [[atmospheric pressure]]s and to see what [[gases]] were present. Other instruments measured the level of [[cosmic radiation]].

[[File:First photo from space.jpg|thumb|The [[first photo of Earth from space]] was taken from [[V-2 No. 13]] launched by US scientists on 24 October 1946.]]

Only 68 percent of the V-2 trials were considered successful.<ref>{{cite web |title=V-2 Rocket Components |url=http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/WSHist/V2/Pages/V2RocketComponents.aspx |publisher=U.S. Army, White Sands Missile Range |year=2010 |access-date=14 December 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902060914/http://www.wsmr.army.mil/PAO/WSHist/V2/Pages/V2RocketComponents.aspx |archive-date=2 September 2013 }}</ref> On 29 May 1947, a [[Hermes project|Modified V-2]] had an error in its guidance, and landed near Juarez, Mexico, causing an international incident.<ref>{{cite web |last=Beggs |first=William |url=http://www.postwarv2.com/hermes |title=Hermes Program |access-date=1 December 2008 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930100414/http://www.postwarv2.com/hermes/ |archive-date=30 September 2011 }}</ref>

The [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] attempted to launch a German V-2 rocket at sea—one test launch from the aircraft carrier [[USS Midway (CV-41)|USS ''Midway'']] was performed on 6 September 1947 as part of the Navy's [[Operation Sandy]]. The test launch was a partial success; the V-2 went off the pad but splashed down in the ocean only some {{cvt|10|km|0}} from the carrier. The launch setup on the Midway's deck is notable in that it used foldaway arms to prevent the missile from falling over. The arms pulled away just after the engine ignited, releasing the missile. The setup may look similar to the [[R-7 Semyorka]] launch procedure but in the case of the R-7 the trusses hold the full weight of the rocket, rather than just reacting to side forces.

The [[PGM-11 Redstone]] rocket is a direct descendant of the V-2.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Dictionary/REDSTONE/DI149.htm |title=Redstone rocket |publisher=centennialofflight.net |access-date=27 April 2010 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140220003451/http://www.centennialofflight.net/essay/Dictionary/REDSTONE/DI149.htm |archive-date=20 February 2014 }}</ref>

=== USSR ===
{{Main|Soviet space program}}

{{See also|German influence on Soviet rocketry}}
[[File:Автопоезд с ракетой Р-1.jpg|thumb|R-1 rocket (V-2 rebuilt by the Soviet Union) on a ''Vidalwagen'' at Kapustin Yar]]

The USSR captured a number of V-2s and staff, letting them stay in Germany for a time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/a4_team_moscow.html#end|title=End of a honeymoon|access-date=2019-06-23|last=Zak|first=Anatoly|date=2012 |website = RussianSpaceWeb.com |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160104225656/http://www.russianspaceweb.com/a4_team_moscow.html#end|archive-date=4 January 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> The first work contracts were signed in the middle of 1945. During October 1946 (as part of [[Operation Osoaviakhim]]) they were obliged to relocate to Branch 1 of NII-88 on [[Gorodomlya Island]] in Lake Seliger where [[Helmut Gröttrup]] directed a group of 150 engineers.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/gorodomlya.html |title=History of the Gorodomlya Island|date=5 August 2012 |access-date=2019-06-23 |last=Zak |first=Anatoly  |website = RussianSpaceWeb.com  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160410142523/http://russianspaceweb.com/gorodomlya.html |archive-date=10 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> In October 1947, a group of German scientists supported the USSR in launching rebuilt V-2s in [[Kapustin Yar]]. The German team was indirectly overseen by [[Sergei Korolev]], one of the leaders of the [[Soviet rocketry#Applications in early aircraft|Soviet rocketry]] program.

The first Soviet missile was the [[R-1 (missile)|R-1]], a duplicate of the V-2 manufactured completely in the USSR, which was launched first during October 1948. From 1947 until the end of 1950, the German team elaborated concepts and improvements for extended payload and range for the projects G-1, G-2 and G-4. The German team had to remain on Gorodomlya island until as late as 1952 and 1953. In parallel, Soviet work emphasized larger missiles, the [[R-2 (missile)|R-2]] and [[R-5 (missile)|R-5]], based on further developing the V-2 technology with using ideas of the German concept studies.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://profpaulcutter.com/PDF/Hi-tech%20Studies/Helmut_Groettrup.pdf |title=Helmut Groettrup … the captured Russian who was Russian POW rocket scientist |date=29 September 2009 |access-date=2019-05-19 |last=Cutter |first=Paul |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227085755/http://profpaulcutter.com/PDF/Hi-tech%20Studies/Helmut_Groettrup.pdf |archive-date=27 February 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> Details of Soviet achievements were unknown to the German team and completely underestimated by Western intelligence until, in November 1957, the satellite [[Sputnik 1]] was launched successfully to orbit by the [[Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik rocket]] based on [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7]], the world's first [[intercontinental ballistic missile]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Spying on Science: Western Intelligence in Divided Germany 1945–1961 |last=Maddrell |first=Paul |publisher=Oxford University Press |date= 2006 |isbn=978-0-19-926750-7 |language=en }}</ref>{{page needed |date=June 2022 }}

=== France ===
{{Main|French space program}}
[[File:Véronique-R-rocket-1950.jpg|thumb|Véronique R rocket, derived from the Super-V2 program, c. 1950]]
Between May and September of 1946, CEPA, the forerunner to today's French space agency [[CNES]], undertook the recruitment of approximately thirty German engineers, who had previous experience working on rocket programs for Nazi Germany at the Peenemünde Army Research Center.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Reuter |first=Claus |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sr6JtOoWghkC |title=The V2 and the German, Russian and American Rocket Program |date=2000 |publisher=German Canadian Museum of Applied History |isbn=978-1-894643-05-4 |pages=179–180 |language=en}}</ref> Much like their counterparts in the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union, France's objective was to acquire and advance the rocket technology developed by Germany during World War II. The initial initiative, known as the [[Super V-2]] program, had plans for four rocket variants capable of achieving ranges of up to {{convert|3600|km|abbr=on}} and carrying warheads weighing up to {{convert|1000|kg|abbr=on}}. However, this program was canceled in 1948.

From 1950 to 1969, the research done on the Super V-2 program was repurposed to develop the [[Véronique (rocket)|Véronique]] [[sounding rocket]], which became the first liquid-fuel research rocket in Western Europe and was ultimately capable of carrying a {{convert|100| kg|abbr=on}} payload to an altitude of {{convert|320| km|abbr=on}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Véronique and Vesta |url=http://fuseurop.univ-perp.fr/lrba_e.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071020121341/http://fuseurop.univ-perp.fr/lrba_e.htm |archive-date=2007-10-20}}</ref> The Véronique program then led to the [[Diamant]] rocket and the [[Ariane (rocket family)|Ariane rocket family]].

=== UK ===
[[File:V-2 Rocket On Meillerwagen.jpg|thumb|right|[[Operation Backfire (WWII)|Operation Backfire]] V-2 rocket on ''[[Meillerwagen]]'']]
During October 1945, the Allied [[Operation Backfire (World War II)|Operation Backfire]] assembled a small number of V-2 missiles and launched three of them from a site in northern Germany. The engineers involved had already agreed to relocate to the US when the test firings were complete. The Backfire report, published in January 1946, contains extensive technical documentation of the rocket, including all support procedures, tailored vehicles and fuel composition.<ref name="backfireR">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/Reportonoperati5Grea/mode/2up |title=Report on operation 'Backfire' Recording and analysis of the trajectory |date= 1946 |publisher=Ministry of Supply |volume=5}}</ref>

In 1946, the [[British Interplanetary Society]] proposed an enlarged man-carrying version of the V-2, named [[Megaroc]]. It could have enabled [[sub-orbital spaceflight]] similar to, but at least a decade earlier than, the [[Mercury-Redstone]] flights of 1961.<ref>{{cite web |title=How a Nazi rocket could have put a Briton in space |url=http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150824-how-a-nazi-rocket-could-have-put-a-briton-in-space |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161114032515/http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150824-how-a-nazi-rocket-could-have-put-a-briton-in-space |archive-date=14 November 2016 |access-date=16 November 2016 |publisher=BBC }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Megaroc |url=http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161030133900/http://www.bis-space.com/what-we-do/projects/megaroc |archive-date=30 October 2016 |access-date=16 November 2016 |publisher=BIS }}</ref>

=== China ===
The first Chinese Dongfeng missile, the [[Dongfeng (missile)#Dongfeng 1 (SS-2)|DF-1]] was a licensed copy of the Soviet R-2; this design was produced during the 1960s.{{cn|date=July 2024}}