First operational liquid fuel rocket. Developed by Germany in a huge development program as large in proportion to the German gross national product as the Manahattan atom bomb project was in America.. Development program cost $ 2 billion; 5,789 built; unit cost $ 17,877. 3,225 launched; total failure rate unknown, but 169 of 1359 against London unsuccessful. After the war captured German V-2's were launched by the British, Americans, and Russians. Personnel and technology from the V-2 formed the basis for subsequent rocketry developments throughout the world. Major Events: .

• 28 June 1919 Treaty loophole permits German rocket development. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Signing of Treaty of Versailles disarmed Germany of a military air force but did not include rockets as potential weapons, thus leaving Germany free under international law to develop them.

• 15 December 1923 Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume published. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Die Rakete zu den Planetenräume (The Rocket Into Interpanetary Space) by Hermann Oberth was published in Germany, and was the genesis for considerable discussion of rocket propulsion.

• 05 June 1927 Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt established. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Society for Space Travel (Verein fuer Raumschiffahrt), known as "VfR," formed in Breslau, Germany.

• 23 July 1930 Hermann Oberth and VfR test liquid fuel engine. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Hermann Oberth and VfR successfully tested liquid oxygen and gasoline-fueled rocket motor for 90 seconds in Germany, a demonstration made before the Director of the Chemisch-Technische Reichsanstalt to secure financial support.

• 01 September 1930 Raketenflugplatze Berlin established. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Raketenflugplatze Berlin established by VfR in Germany.

• 17 December 1930 Kummersdorff selected for missile development. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: German Army Ordnance Office, after reviewing work of Goddard and others, decided to establish rocket program and to equip artillery proving ground at Kummersdorff to develop military missiles.

• 01 April 1931 VfR/AIS meeting. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Raktenflugplatz in Germany was visited by Mr. and Mrs. G. Edward Pendray as official representatives of the American Interplanetary Society, who upon their return organized the experimental program of the society.

• 01 July 1932 Mirak II rocket reaches height of 200 feet Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: VfR successfully fired Mirak II rocket to height of 200 feet, after which German Army Ordnance Office formalized rocket develoment program by placing Captain-Doctor Walter Dornberger in charge of Research Station West at Kummersdorf.

• 01 October 1932 Von Braun joins German Army missile program. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Wernher von Braun joined the German Army Ordnance Office rocket program at Kummersdorf.

• 01 December 1934 A-2 rockets successfully launched. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Geman Ordance group launch two A-2 rockets successfully to a height of 1.4 miles, on the Island of Borkum in the North Sea, before the C-in-C of the Army.

• 01 February 1936 A-3 rocket tested. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Germans tested A-3 rocket with 3,300-pound thrust which served as basis for military weapon specifications.

• 01 May 1937 Peenemünde opened. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Joint German Army-Air Force rocket research station opened at Peenemünde on Baltic Sea; Army Ordnance rocket program under Capt. Walter Dornberger moved his staff from Kummersdorf.

• 04 December 1937 First launch from Peenemuende (A3) Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

• 01 October 1939 First A-5 test. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Germans successfully fired and recovered A-5 development rockets with gyroscopic controls and parachutes, attaining altitude of 7½ miles and a range of 11 miles.

• 23 March 1942 First launch of A4. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Crashed in sea 1 km from pad.

• 13 June 1942 First A-4 static test. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First test of the German A-4 (V-2) rocket unsuccessful at Peenemünde, Germany.

• 03 October 1942 First A-4 flight. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First successful launch and flight of 51/2-ton German A-4 rocket (V-2) at Peenemünde, which traveled 120 miles.

• 17 February 1943 A-4 test. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: German A-4 (V-2) rocket traveled 121.8 miles after launch from Peenemünde.

• 15 April 1943 V-2 development detected by British Intelligence. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Prime Minister Winston Churchill of England was informed of reports on German experiments with long-range rockets.

• 30 May 1943 First V-2's launched from Poland. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Germans operationally test fired over 100 V-2's from Blizna, Poland, launching 10 on one day, only a small number of which were fully successful.

• 07 July 1943 V-2 given top priority. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Adolf Hitler gave the German V-2 program highest military priority.

• 17 August 1943 Peenemünde attacked by RAF. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Royal Air Force attacked Germany's Peenemünde Rocket Research Center, causing heavy damage and delaying V-weapon program by weeks or months.

• 01 June 1944 V-2 crashes in Sweden. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Remains of V-2 which impacted in Sweden were flown to England for Allied analysis.

• 01 June 1944 Manned V-1 test flights. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Geman "Reichenberg" program began for use of manned V-1's air launched from He-111's for suicide missions; test flights were made at Peenemünde.

• 08 September 1944 First V-2 attacks. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First German V-2 fired in combat exploded in suburb of Paris; the second struck London a few hours later.

• 01 December 1944 V-2 technology targeted for Hermes. Launch Vehicle: Redstone . More details Summary: Army Ordnance made plans under the Hermes program to study the German V-2 missile.

• 24 January 1945 A-9 / A-4b first launch. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Germans successfully launched A-9, a winged prototype of the first ICBM (the A-10) designed to reach North America. A-9 reached a peak altitude of nearly 50 miles and a maximum speed of 2,700 mph.

• 05 May 1945 Peenemünde occupied. Launch Site: Peenemuende . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Russian ground forces occupied Peenemünde, Germany.

• 23 July 1945 German space plans revealed to US public. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Life published drawings of a manned space station as envisioned by the German rocket scientists of Peenemünde.

• 01 October 1945 Project Paperclip begun Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

  Secretary of War Patterson approved plan to bring top German scientists to United States to aid military research and development. Small group of German rocket specialists brought to United States under Project Paperclip to work on missile development at Fort Bliss and White Sands Proving Ground.

• 03 October 1945 Project Backfire first V-2 launch. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Launch of V-2 from Altenwalde by German technicians under British direction in order to document launch procedures.

• 15 October 1945 Project Backfire third V-2 launch. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Third and final launch in Project Backfire, with allied observors. Glushko, Sokolov, Pobedonostsev; Korolev and Gaidukov kept outside fence; Von Karman, Merrill, Seifert, Pickering from US.

• 16 January 1946 V-2 flight tests in US initiated. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

  U.S. upper atmosphere research program initiated with captured German V-2 rockets. A V-2 panel of representatives of various interested agencies was created, and a total of more than 60 V-2's were fired before the supply ran out. The Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University then undertook to develop a medium-altitude rocket, the Aerobee, while the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) directed its efforts to the development of a large high-altitude rocket, first called the Neptune, later the Viking.

• 21 February 1946 Peenenmuende team arrives in White Sands Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

• 15 March 1946 V-2 first static firing. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First American-assembled V-2 static fired at White Sands Proving Ground.

• 16 April 1946 First V-2 launched from White Sands Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First flight test of American-assembled V-2 rocket launched by the Army at White Sands Proving Ground, N. Mex. In July firings, Missiles Nos. 5 and 9 set new altitude records of slightly over 100 miles, while Missile 17 set velocity record of 3,600 mph.

• 01 October 1946 Project Bumper initiated. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Army Ordnance initiated Bumper Project for development leading to a two-stage rocket test vehicle, which resulted in use of JPL WAC Corporal as second stage of a V-2.

• 24 October 1946 V-2 no. 13 launched. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: V-2 rocket No. 13 launched from WSPG carried camera which took motion pictures of the earth at approximately 65 miles altitude (pictures covered 40,000 square miles.) Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab experiment.

• 20 February 1947 V-2 Project Blossom. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: First of a series of V-2 firings (No. 20) known as Blossom Project, tested ejection of canister and its recovery by parachute, containing fruit flies and various types of seeds exposed to cosmic rays.

• 07 March 1947 USN flight of V-2. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: USN V-2 flight from WSPG took first photograph at 100-mile altitude.

• 29 May 1947 V-2 hits Mexico. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: V-2 impacts a graveyard 11/2 miles south of Juarez, Mexico, resulting in new safety measures at WSPG. 'We were the first German unit to not only infiltrate the United States, but to attack Mexico from US soil'.

• 06 September 1947 V-2 launched from US aircraft carrier. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: German V-2 rocket launched from U.S. aircraft carrrier Midway in Atlantic tests, exploding prematurely after a 6-mile flight.

• 09 October 1947 V-2 supersonic flight. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: General Electric engineers obtained first carefully instrumented heat-transfer data from supersonic flight when V-2 fired from WSPG attained 3,400 mph.

• 06 February 1948 V-2 electronic flight control test. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Successful electronic flight control exercised on V-2 launch to a 70-mile altitude at White Sands, N. Mex., by General Electric technicians for Army Ordnance.

• 18 March 1948 V-2 project winding down. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: V-2 Upper Atmosphere Research Panel, representing all U.S. interested agencies, was renamed the Upper Atmosphere Rocket Research Panel.

• 13 May 1948 First Bumper flight. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Two-stage Bumper-Wac fired at WSPG, the V-2 first stage reaching 70 miles and the Wac Corporal 79-mile altitude.

• 26 July 1948 Dual launches. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Two separate rockets fired from White Sands, one a V-2 which reached an altitude of 60.3 miles, the other a Navy Aerobee which reached an altitude of 70 miles, carried cameras which photographed the curvature of the earth.

• 30 September 1948 Third Bumper. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Third Bumper-Wac launch from WSPG, the V-2 reaching 93.4 miles, the Wac-Corporal not firing.

• 24 February 1949 Bumper record altitude. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

  An Army JPL Bumper-Wac two-stage rocket (a Wac Corporal mounted on a V-2 first stage) attained a record altitude of 244 miles and record speed of 5,150 miles per hour over White Sands, N. Mex., yielding information about ion densities in the F-region of the ionosphere.

• 14 June 1949 Second V-2 flight with monkey. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Second V-2 flight carrying a live AF Aero Medical Laboratory monkey, Albert II, attained an altitude of 83 miles; the monkey survived but died on impact.

• 12 December 1949 Last V-2 monkey flight. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Last monkey, Albert IV, launched in V-2 series of tests at WSPG, a successful flight indicating no ill effects on monkey until impact of V-2.

• 17 February 1950 V-2 record altitude. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: V-2 reached an altitude of 92 miles in launch from WSPG.

• 24 July 1950 Bumper 8 - First launch from Cape Canaveral. Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

  Bumper No. 8, a German V-2 with a 700-pound Army-JPL Wac Corporal, was fired from Long-Range Proving Ground at Cape Canaveral; the first-stage V-2 climbed 10 miles, separated from the second-stage Corporal which traveled 15 more miles. This was the first missile launch from Cape Canaveral (V-2 exploded).

• 29 July 1950 Bumper 7 Launch Site: Cape Canaveral . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details

  Bumper No. 7 was the second missile launch from Cape Canaveral, reached highest velocity (Mach 9) attained by a manmade object to date. Maximum range test of a two-stage vehicle, to study problems in staging. WAC-Corporal impacted 189.4 miles downrange with peak trajectory of 21.8 miles.

• 31 August 1950 Last V-2 aeromedical flight. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Last of five Aeromedical Laboratory experiments (first four known as Albert series) fired by V-2 No. 51 from WSPG, which carried a nonanesthetized mouse photographed by a camera which survived impact.

• 30 June 1951 V-2 Program completed in US. Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: United States terminated its V-2 Program, 67 V-2's having been flown since the first American launch of a V-2 on April 16, 1946.

• 29 October 1951 Last V-2 flight. Launch Site: White Sands . Launch Vehicle: V-2 . More details Summary: Firing of V-2, No. 66, at White Sands Proving Ground concluded U.S. use of these German missiles in upper atmosphere rocket research. 64 V-2s were launched from White Sands.