The White Sands V-2 Launching Site, also known as Launch Complex 33 and originally as Army Launch Area Number 1, is an historic rocket launch complex at

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

in southern

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

. It was here that the United States first performed test launches of German

V-2 rocket The V-2 (german: Vergeltungswaffe 2, lit=Retaliation Weapon 2), with the technical name ''Aggregat 4'' (A-4), was the world’s first long-range guided ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was develop ...

s captured toward the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. These tests were the first step in both military advances in rocketry, and in the development of the United States space exploration programs. The site was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1985.

History

The

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

V-2 rocket was one of the most advanced weapons produced in World War II, and hundreds of them were launched at Allied targets in the last two years of the war. In the aftermath of the war, the United States launched

Operation Paperclip Operation Paperclip was a secret United States intelligence program in which more than 1,600 German scientists, engineers, and technicians were taken from the former Nazi Germany to the U.S. for government employment after the end of World War ...

, a secret program that successfully recruited German scientists and engineers (most prominently

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

) to work for the American military, and transported 100 captured V-2 rockets to the recently established White Sands Missile Range. Between 1946 and 1951, the Army fired 67

V-2 sounding rocket German V-2 rockets captured by the United States Army at the end of World War II were used as sounding rockets to carry scientific instruments into the Earth's upper atmosphere at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) for a program of atmospheric and ...

s from this site. These launches, and the training of a class of scientists and engineers, led directly to the further development of new rocket launch programs, including ultimately the launch of humans into space.

Site description

Launch Complex 33 is located near the far southern end of the White Sands Missile Range, east of

Las Cruces, New Mexico Las Cruces (; "the crosses") is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New Mexico and the seat of Doña Ana County. As of the 2020 census the population was 111,385. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Doña Ana County and southern Ne ...

. On the range grounds, it is located on east of the White Sands Range Museum. There are two principal surviving elements of the launch complex. One is the steel gantry, a steel structure in height and wide, from which the V-2s and later classes of rockets were launched. It has four platforms at different heights, which can be swung into position to accommodate rockets of different sizes, and a network of block-and-tackle systems to assist in rocket placement. The other structure is a concrete observation tower with walls thick, and a pyramidal roof cap that consists of of solid concrete. It has observation portals with specialized glass windows allowing for close observation of the launches.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Buildings and structures in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Historic American Engineering Record in New Mexico Infrastructure completed in 1946 Military facilities on the National Register of Historic Places in New Mexico Military history of New Mexico National Historic Landmarks in New Mexico National Register of Historic Places in Doña Ana County, New Mexico Rocket launch sites in the United States White Sands Missile Range 1946 establishments in New Mexico

History

Site description

See also

References