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Early V-2 Photos of Earth
V-2 rockets launched from White Sands, New Mexico in the 1940s returned the first photos of Earth from space. The rockets were launched on a suborbital trajectory. The cameras continued shooting as the vehicle rotated during its fall back to Earth. (12:22)
Video: White Sands Missile Range
Related Article
The First Photo From Space
In 1946, rocket-borne cameras gave us our first look at Earth from beyond the atmosphere.
By Tony Reichhardt
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Comments (3)
MY DAD WORKED AT WHITE SANDS ON THIS PROJECT, HIS NAME IS JESUS C GARCIA HE WAS IN THE MILITARY. HE IS 91 YEARS OLD NOW AND TELLS ME STORIES ABOUT WHITE SANDS. HE HELPED PUT TOGETHER 41 V2 ROCKET MOTERS WITH THE HELP OF NAZI GERMAN MECHANICS. HE SAID THEY WERE VERY GOOD HE LEARNED A LOT FROM THEM. I EVEN HAVE PICTURES OF HIM STANDIND IN FRONT OF V2 ROCKETS I AM SO PROUD OF MY DAD.
Posted by Edward A Garcia on April 3,2010 | 03:03 PM
How inspiring and thrilling! Why aren't we a space-faring species by now? We have lost the ability to "put a man on the moon". These films were taken just before I was born and frankly I am tired of waiting to go into space. Burt Rutan's dream of space flight for all must not die.
Posted by Dave V on December 7,2010 | 09:36 PM
The White Sands test area was very close to Roswell, across the New Mexico dessert. Less than a year after this amazing photograph was taken from space, the infamous Roswell incident occurred. This was dismissed by the U.S. military as a weather balloon, but all of the local people were used to seeing weather balloons crash in the area and knew it wasn't one. Many other explanations have been offered, including, of course, that the crashed craft was of extra-terrestrial origin. Could it have been, however, that the Roswell craft was in fact a V2 rocket? Given the intrinsic link with Nazi Germany and, in particular, the murderous SS, so soon after the end of World War 2, it may have been that the military decided upon a cover up, to hide the matter. The incident may have therefore been so controversial as to proliferate the cover-up for decades to come. It may also seem possible - though perhaps less so - that primates were placed in the craft, perhaps to experiment on how they might cope with such travel: the V2 was after all, the ancestor of the Saturn 5 Rocket, like it or not. Photographs from space had already been taken, so sending living creatures into space may have been seen as the next step. A parachute (rather than a balloon) may have been used to slow the craft's descent (so that if an animal survived the initial rocket flight, it didn't, like the camera smash into the ground at 500 miles per hour). If an animals fur was scorched off, or shaved off pre-flight, then this could account for rumours of aliens being sighted around the crashed craft. Do not forget, the White Sands project and indeed the Saturn 5 project at its early stages, was led, at least at a technical level, by a former SS Major. The SS, it was said, would stop at nothing in order to achieve their aims. The U.S. military, who were descending into the icy grip of the cold war at the time, may also have stopped at nothing in order to stay ahead in the arms - and then the space - race.
Posted by George Wallace on April 15,2012 | 05:26 PM