Mittelwerk GmbH V-2 Rocket

The V-2 (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2, "Retribution Weapon 2"), technical name Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first long-range ballistic missile. The liquid-propellant rocket was developed during the Second World War in Germany as a "vengeance weapon", designed to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the ever-increasing Allied bombings against German cities. The V-2 rocket was also the first man-made object to enter the fringes of space.