The use of V-2 rockets for manned flights

The German V-2 ballistic missile was a liquid fuel missile, the first in human history to reach space. Today, the missile, associated mainly with Hitler's war machine, was a huge technological leap, financed by Nazi Germany under the development program, the cost of which was at least $2 billion in 1944.

During the war, German workplaces managed to produce 6,084 V-2 missiles, as many as 3,225 of which were fired in battles against the Allies, and another 1,000 to 1,750 were used in tests and training. Despite efforts, the missiles were inaccurate and did not change the course of the war, and turned out to be a huge waste of resources. Between 1945 and 1952 the British, Americans and Russians fired 86 German V-2s.

The personnel and technology of the V-2 program were the starting point for the post-war development of rocket technology in America, Russia, and France. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Nazi missile program, was captured by the Americans and transported to the United States, where a Saturn V missile, designed under his supervision, took the first people to the Moon. Interestingly, the Germans also thought about conquering space. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that during World War II, von Braun and a team of scientists were analysing the possible evolution of the V-2 rocket into a manned space vehicle. Later versions of the rocket V-2, V-6 to V-12, were to lead the Third Reich to the moon and even further.

The first plans for the development of the V-2 rocket emerged in 1940. The A-9 rocket was to consist of the first stage, essentially a V-2 rocket, but special wings were to be added to the structure to extend the range of the rocket from 250 to 550 kilometres. The manned version of the rocket would be equipped with an additional second stage, which would allow a man to reach space. Unfortunately, in 1943, the Third Reich government banned further work in this direction to focus on the military production of V-2 missiles.