Rocket reaches 100 mi altitudeIn 1946, for the first time an altitude of 100 mi (167 km) was reached by a test rocket. It was a V-2 rocket (No. 9), fueled with alcohol and liquid oxygen launched at White Sands, NM. This test had the first separation of nose cone. During World War II, the nose cone held a German warhead containing almost a ton of explosives. At White Sands, the Army invited government agencies and universities to use the nose cone's 20 cubic feet of space for scientific research, up to 2,000 pounds of scientific equipment, such as cameras, sensors, and on-board experiments, were carried aloft on each flight. |
