60 Years Later: The V2 And The Space Race

securitas writes "In a two-part feature written sixty years after the V2 rocket was first launched on London, BBC News Online's Paul Rincon describes the Soviet-American space race, German V2 rocket technology and how the USSR and USA divided Germany's best scientists between them. The second part addresses the technological lineage of both space programs, the creation of NASA, intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) development and the V2's legacy. Another feature provides some context, following the history of the development of the V2 rocket from its precursors that began with space flight enthusiasts like Wernher von Braun and Walter Riedel, through its use as a terrifying weapon in the London Blitz, to the recruitment drive by the Americans and Soviets. Today the V2 rocket is being used as the basis for the Canadian Arrow X Prize team. The Arrow team has some pages on V2 history and the main engine thrust chamber. For those interested you can read more at the A4 / V2 Rocket Resource site."

Comments

my parents

[spectrokid]

told me on how they were afraid of the V2. The V1 made a loud humming noise and only became dangerous when the engine stopped. The V2 was faster than sound, meaning no advanced warning. It just went boom.

They really were after rocket scientists

[Anonymous Coward]

One of my profs was in the German air force as a radar mechanic. At the end of the war he was driving a truck back from Norway. The Americans were at Penemunde (sp?) and he tried to surrender to them. "Are you a rocket scientist?" they asked. When he said no, they didn't want him. However they were willing to trade his side arm for a tank of gas and he could go down the road and surrender to the British.

Re:The best Germans

[hype7]

Wasn't that the answer given, when the US president demanded to know how the Russians got Sputnik up before the Americans managed a similar feat? "Because their Germans are better than our Germans".

They might be a bit deluded when they think of themselves as a master race (well, only some of them do) but if they were to qualify it as a "master engineering race" then I think there'd be a lot less of us that would argue with it. From rockets to cars, they are excellent engineers.

If you are interested in "our" Germans from the parent's statement, do a google on "operation paperclip". It's very interesting... the US program to extract as many German scientists out of post-Nazi Germany as possible.

-- james
PS I mean to stir no racial tension by the use of "master race", merely referring to the use of a very well known phrase

Nazi tech

[DNS-and-BIND]

The technological achievements by the Nazis during the war were amazing. They developed and used:

• Surface-to-surface missiles
• Guided air-to-air missiles
• Jet fighter planes and jet bombers
• Airplanes transparent to radar
• Information science (before computers)
• Encryption technology (only comprimised due to physical reasons, i.e. someone stole one)

And many others. It's scary to think of what would have happened if they had a few more years to develop before attacking the world.

For more information....

[wowbagger]

If you would like to see a very good comparison between the US and the USSR space race, starting all the way back in WWII Germany, you should go to The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, KS. The Hall of Space exhibit starts with the German slave camps building the V1 and V2 rocket, and goes all the way through to Apollo/Soyuez.

It is one of the few places on Earth where you can see an intact V1 and V2 rocket.