In 1944, a German aerospace engineer along with his research team invented the first long-range ballistic missile secretly for Nazi Germany during World War II while it was built by concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers under brutal conditions. The V-2 later influenced American and Soviet missile and space programs after captured technology, equipment and German specialists were divided among the Allies after World War II.

In 1944, a German aerospace engineer along with his research team invented the first long-range ballistic missile secretly for Nazi Germany during World War II while it was built…

The test, while unsucessful, did show that Navy ships could be floating launch pads for a new kind of weapon: the ballistic missile.