The
V-2 (
German:
Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Vengeance Weapon 2"), technical name
Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first long-range
ballistic missile. It was developed during the
Second World War in
Germany, specifically targeted at
London and later
Antwerp.
Commonly referred to as the V-2 rocket, the liquid-propellant rocket was a combat-ballistic missile, now considered short-range, and first known human artifact to enter outer space. It was the progenitor of all modern rockets, including those used by the United States and Soviet Union's space programs. During the aftermath of World War II the American, Soviet and British governments all gained access to the V-2's technical designs as well as the actual German scientists responsible for creating the rockets, via Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim and Operation Backfire respectively.
The weapon was presented by Nazi propaganda as a retaliation for the bombers that attacked ever more German cities from 1942 until Germany surrendered.
Beginning in September 1944, over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets during the war, mostly London and later Antwerp and Liège. According to a BBC documentary in 2011, the attacks resulted in the deaths of an estimated 9,000 civilians and military personnel, while 12,000 forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners were killed producing the weapons.
Joseph Francis Shea (September 5, 1925 – February 14, 1999) was an
American aerospace engineer and
NASA manager. Born in the
New York City borough of
the Bronx, he was educated at the
University of Michigan, receiving a
Ph.D. in
Engineering Mechanics in 1955. After working for
Bell Labs on the radio
inertial guidance system of the
Titan I intercontinental ballistic missile, he was hired by NASA in 1961. As Deputy Director of NASA's Office of Manned Space Flight, and later as head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office, Shea played a key role in shaping the course of the
Apollo program, helping to lead NASA to the decision in favor of
lunar orbit rendezvous and supporting "all up" testing of the
Saturn V rocket. While sometimes causing controversy within the agency, Shea was remembered by his former colleague
George Mueller as "one of the greatest
systems engineers of our time".
Deeply involved in the investigation of the 1967 Apollo 1 fire, Shea suffered a nervous breakdown as a result of the stress that he suffered. He was removed from his position and left NASA shortly afterwards. From 1968 until 1990 he worked as a senior manager at Raytheon in Lexington, Massachusetts, and thereafter became an adjunct professor of aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. While Shea served as a consultant for NASA on the redesign of the International Space Station in 1993, he was forced to resign from the position due to health issues.