V2 Rocket

V2 Rocket :

The A-4, later called the V-2, was a single-stage rocket fueled by alcohol and liquid oxygen. It stood 46.1 feet high and had a thrust of 56,000 pounds. The A-4 had a payload capacity of 2,200 pounds and could reach a velocity of 3,500 miles per hour.  On October 3, 1942 the A-4 was first launched from Peenemunde. Breaking the sound barrier, it reached an altitude of sixty miles. It was the world's first launch of a ballistic missile and the first rocket ever to go into the fringes of space. In 1943 Hitler decided to use the A-4 as a "vengeance weapon," and the group found themselves developing the A-4 to rain explosives on London. Fourteen months after Hitler ordered it into production, the first combat A-4, now called the V-2, was launched toward western Europe on September 7, 1944. The V-2s were constructed at the Mittelwerk site by prisoners from Mittlebrau-Dora. Mittlebrau-Dora was a concentration camp where an estimated 20,000 prisoners died during the war. An estimated 2,754 civilians were killed in London by V-2 attacks with another 6,523 injured. This means there were two people killed per V-2 rocket. The V-1 and V-2 Rockets cost an estimated $3 billion in wartime dollars. About 2100 rockets were built. Highly interested in the weapon, both American and Soviet forces scrambled to capture existing V-2 rockets and parts at the end of the war. In the conflict's final days, von Braun and Dornberger surrendered to American troops and assisted in further testing the missile before coming to the United States.

Sources:  http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=894
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365052459/
http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/v2.htm