ROCKETRY—COX AND STOIKO 265 
ROCKETRY TODAY * 
The present state of science and of technological knowledge permits the 
building of machines that can rise beyond the limits of the atmosphere of the 
earth. 
After further development these machines will be capable of attaining 
such velocities that they—left undisturbed in the void of ether space—will not 
fall back to earth; furthermore, they will even be able to leave the zone of 
terrestrial attraction. 
—Hermann Oberth. 
Die Rakete zu den Planetenriumen—1923 
(The Rocket to the Interplanetary Spaces). 
Shortly before the capture of Peenemiinde, in the final phases of 
World War IT, the United States, its Allies, and Russia realized that 
the Germans were way ahead of every nation in guided-missile devel- 
opment and application. Accordingly, they organized teams of 
technical experts, both civilian and military, to search the German 
research centers and factories for information pertaining to rocket 
development. When the European war ended, these technical teams 
proceeded to fulfill their assigned tasks. As a direct result of this 
action, literally tons of captured documents and all types of rocket 
hardware were confiscated by the participating nations. 
One very important part of this program was the search for ex- 
perienced rocket people. Of the thousands of technical personnel 
who worked at Peenemiinde and other rocket-producing facilities, 
it was reported that the Soviet central agency, whose sole function 
was to recruit German rocket specialists after World War IT, rounded 
up a total of 5,000 scientists, engineers, and technicians from the 
Peenemiinde project. The United States took under its wings a few 
big names but let the bulk of the Peenemiinde colony slip through its 
fingers to Russia. In this manner, Russia acquired almost all of 
Hitler’s best rocket brains, and within an incredibly short period had 
them working around the clock 7 days a week on their rocket develop- 
ments. 
Thus, it was not until the capture of Peenemiinde and the roundup 
of its scientists, documents, and missiles that a guided-missile program 
was initiated by some of the major nations of the world. Since 
then, however, the status of worldwide guided-missile programs indi- 
cates that Argentina, the British Commonwealth, Italy, Japan, 
France, Holland, Russia, Switzerland, Sweden, and the United States 
are actively engaged in a missile technological race on a scale that 
has seen no precedent or parallel in the course of human history. 
This missile race is centered around four basic military categories 
(see pl. 1) which include: (1) air-to-air (AAM); (2) air-to-surface 
«Chapter 3 of Spacepower. 
