Part 1: Chapter 2, Political Rains and First Fruit: The Cold War and Sputnik Summary and Analysis

A week after the beginning of the Allied invasion at Normandy, Germany began using the Vergeltungswaffe -1, or V1, against the British. This was an unmanned missile carrying a ton of explosive and an early ancestor of the missiles that would be used in the 1980s. The V2, also known as the A4, succeeded the V1 and was much more expensive even though it was almost invulnerable. These were the products of the German rocket program, which ended in 1945. The V2 technology was not unknown to the Soviets and it probably resulted in pushing the U.S. into the rocket program earlier than they would have entered if it hadn't been for the V2. This was the predecessor of...