MW 18014 [SEP] point in time
MW 18014
MW 18014 was a German A-4/V-2 rocket test launch that took place on 20 June 1944, at the Peenemünde Army Research Center in Peenemünde. It was the first man-made object to reach outer space, attaining an apoapsis of 176 kilometers, which is above the Kármán line. It was a vertical test launch. Although it reached space, it was a sub-orbital spaceflight and therefore returned to Earth in an impact.
Background.
Early A-4 rockets, despite being able to reach altitudes
part of a series of vertical test launches made in June 1944 designed to gauge the rocket's behaviour in vacuum. MW 18014 broke the altitude record set by one of its predecessors (launched on 3 October 1942) to attain an apoapsis of 176 km.
MW 18014 is the first man-made object to cross the 100 km Kármán Line, which , is the currently accepted boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space. However, as the Kármán Line is an anachronistic definition, the Peenemunde rocket scientists did