In May 1947, the Pentagon attempted to launch a V-2 ballistic rocket, like the ones the Nazis used to bombard London in World War II, outside White Sands, New Mexico. The weapon rose from the pad in a roar of flame and smoke and leapt into the sky. Within moments, however, the testers knew something was wrong. The missile was heading south instead of north.
A V-2 is a pretty simple rocket: a tank containing an alcohol-water mixture, another tank full of liquid oxygen, a small chamber with hydrogen peroxide, and some pipes to mix, ignite, and route it all through the engine. They are not known for their sophisticated guidance systems. (Just a couple of vanes on the fins.) The range of the V-2 can stretch hundreds of miles, and the Air Force was about to learn that the room they allotted to test them needed to increase.
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