A4 (V2) Missile - V4

V-2 history October 3, 1942

Prior to October of 1942 there had been two failed test launches of the rocket. The first model (A-4/V1) was destroyed during a handling mishap, while the next two (A-4/V2 and A-4/V3) had failed during test launchings. The first successful launch (A-4/V4) occurred on October 3, 1942. The launch was conducted at Peenemünde Test Stand VII facility along the Baltic Sea. The rocket traveled to a point 118 miles downrange and reached a height of around 90 to 100 km, or just enough to cross the boundary of the Earth’s atmosphere into outer space. Walter Dornberger called that day, “the first of a new era in transportation, that of space travel."