The R-7 Rocket
With the bitter conclusion of the first world war, Germany found itself in a difficult predicament seeing no way to arm itself without violating the Treaty of Versailles. However, a loophole existed. In the Allies' long itemized list of weapons Germany could not develop, rockets had been omitted. In the same year that Adolf Hitler rose to power, a young Wernher von Braun was given the task of developing Germany's rockets. After many failed attempts, von Braun successfully launched the V-2 rocket in March of 1942.
When Germany was defeated in the second world war, the United States and Soviet Union scrambled to take the advanced German scientists and rockets, the first race in the Cold War. Wernher von Braun and a number of engineers were taken by the United States and the remaining 30% were captured by the Soviet Union. It was these scientists who developed the R-7 rocket which lifted Sputnik into orbit. It was propelled by the same liquid propellants and multi-stage rocket boosters that Russian rocketter Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky had proposed at the end of the 19th century.
When Germany was defeated in the second world war, the United States and Soviet Union scrambled to take the advanced German scientists and rockets, the first race in the Cold War. Wernher von Braun and a number of engineers were taken by the United States and the remaining 30% were captured by the Soviet Union. It was these scientists who developed the R-7 rocket which lifted Sputnik into orbit. It was propelled by the same liquid propellants and multi-stage rocket boosters that Russian rocketter Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky had proposed at the end of the 19th century.