From the White Sands Missile Range Museum Archives
Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist







White Sands Missile Range Museum
Atomic. Missile. Space. Birthplace of American Ages.
From the White Sands Missile Range Museum Archives
Edited by Jenn Jett, Museum Specialist
An amazing history of the early years of today’s space program. Really a treasure trove of information and photographs! I was born in 1951 and in many ways grew up with the space program. The early years are fascinating. I’ve been reading “Rockets, Missiles and Space Travel” by Wiley Ley to gain an understanding of what it was like to be there as space exploration begin.
Three were successfully set up and launched over the Baltic Sea before the parts were divided for use by the British and American Armies.
This is new to mee following my documentation the British did fire over the North sea from Atenwalde a long the Danish coast.
Please see Operation Backfire volume 5
Thank you for your correction! The source document does say Baltic Sea, but I’m not sure why the author made the mistake. Thanks again!
Photo caption above: I am unaware of any captured materials were shipped from Amsterdam. The photo above was taken at the port of Antwerp
Thank you for the correction! That was an error on my part and I have fixed the mistake. Much appreciated!
Correction: the Backfire rockets were fired over the North Sea and not the Baltic.
Thank you for the correction! I looked at the source document and it does say the Baltic Sea, but that doesn’t make sense considering that Cuxhaven is on the North Sea, not the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, the source document has no author, so I’m not sure how familiar they were with Operation Backfire itself or if this was just a typo. Thanks again!