Editing V-2 rocket (section)

=== 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 }}