6 Things to Know Today
But, first and foremost, the race for space was a military pursuit, and that is how it began.
Nazi Germany hoped to turn World War II with the V-2 Rocket, the first long-range guided ballistic missile. Launched in September 1944, V-2s rained down terror “from Northern England to Lorraine,” Barron’s wrote in January 1945, when, despite a final German offensive, the European conflict’s end was in sight.
When the Allies poured into Germany that spring, American and Russian forces secured as many V-2 rockets, scientists, and technological secrets as possible. The Cold War was on.
The U.S.S.R. held the early lead in space, sending the first dog into orbit in Sputnik 2, then the first man into space in 1961 and the first woman in 1963.