Udviklingen af rumfartøjer: Fra Sputnik til rummekanismer

Forfatter / Redaktør: Eren Yalçın•12 October 2026

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The first spacecraft was the German V-2 rocket, launched from Peenemünde in East Prussia (now Poland) in June 1944. Although other flights reached higher altitudes, the V-2 rocket tests in the 1940s reached altitudes above 100 km, which is considered by the International Aviation Federation to be the beginning of spaceflight, and is known as the Karman line.

The second human spaceflight vehicle to be named Freedom 7 was launched on 5 May 1961, carrying American astronaut Alan Shepard on a suborbital flight to an altitude of 187 km (116 mi). Five more Mercury spacecraft missions followed.