Question by [email protected]: was there anything to go into space prior to sputnik?
hello, of course the russians had to test rockets etc to put sputnic in orbit but did any of their tests actually reach space? i guess my question is was sputnik the first object to reach space? oh by the way, ‘long live Liaka’. thanks a lot
Answers and Views:
Answer by Big Daddy
The US had a number of programs prior to sputnik that achieved high altitudes (hundreds of miles). Those would certainly be considered as going into space, but none of them attempted to achieve orbit.
Sputnik was the first orbiting object. I’d have to assume that the Soviet Union had similar preliminary flights as well.
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Boris Catrell says
UFO’s.
Starrysky says
Nazi Germany and Werner von Braun (of the USA Apollo moon rocket) sent V2 rockets by the thousands up in arcs to land in England and Belgium. Most went at least 100km up (start of space) beginning in 1942 testing, peaking in 1944 operational launches. He and other Germans came to US and New Mexico’s White Sands for the continuation of rocket research. WAC-Corporal 2 stage rocket reached 250 miles up in the late 1940s or early 1950s.