V-2

The world's first operational ballistic missile, Nazi Germany launched large numbers of V-2 (short for "Vengeance Weapon 2" (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2) against targets in Western Europe, especially London. It was designed as one of Hitler's secret weapons to win [[Launched by Nazi Germany in 1944-45 World War II, along with the V-1 cruise missile, but its major impact was killing several thousand civilians and diverting Allied bombers to attack its installations. While it demonstrated many advances in technology, and indeed was conceived as a space launch vehicle by its designer, Wernher von Braun, it was too inaccurate, with a high-explosive warhead, to be more than a psychological weapon.

In modern terminology, it was a short-range ballistic missile, with a payload of 1 metric ton and a range of 240 kilometers/150 miles. It could send 1,000 kilograms (1 ton) of explosives more than 240 kilometers (150 miles) down range in five minutes.

Its liquid-fueled rocket engine powered it for approximately a minute, with stabilization and some control from aerodynamic fins. Once the engine stopped, the missile followed a parabolic trajectory, entering the edge of space, and then turning earthwards and falling due to gravity.

The Soviet SS-1 SCUD is, in most respects, a copy of the V-2, but made up for inaccuracy by using a nuclear warhead.