25. THE OPENING OF THE FINAL FRONTIER: First U.S. rocket, V2 No. 3, reaches outer space US Army, 10 May 1946 Printed 1946. Vintage gelatin silver print on fibre-based paper, captioned on the front below image "V-2 leaving ground after being ignited 10 May 1946" and "US Army Ordnance Proving Ground White Sands, N. M.", with an ID reference stamp numbered "2V22" on the front, with two restored filing holes to the top (issued by US Army Ordnance Proving Ground, White Sands, New Mexico). 20.3 x 25.4 cm. (8 x 10 in.) Historical context The dawn of the U.S. space program. This exceptionally rare photograph captures the launch of V-2 No. 3 from White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on May 10, 1946. Using a V-2 rocket captured from Germany after WWII, this historic flight marked the first American rocket to reach outer space, soaring to an altitude of 70 miles and opening the Final Frontier. The official boundary of space, the Kármán line, lies at an altitude of 62.5 miles (100 km). The V-2 rocket, originally developed by Wernher von Braun, was the first man-made object to reach outer space, achieving an altitude of 189 kilometres (102 nautical miles) during a June 1944 test flight at Peenemünde, Germany. After WWII, von Braun and key members of his team were brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip, securing vital missile and rocket technology for the U.S. Army. Captured V-2 rockets were shipped to the United States, and launches from White Sands Proving Ground in 1946 marked the genesis of the American space program. Literature LIFE magazine, 27 May 1946, pp. 31-35 (variant)