V-2 bumper rocket launch, USA, White Sands, New Mexico. After the Second World War a number of German rocket scientists defected to the USA, continuing their work in the White Sands missile range in New Mexico. The experiments performed here led directly to the rockets later used for space exploration and for the delivery of nuclear payloads. In 1948 a smaller bumper rocket was put on the top of a V-2 and fired as a second-stage after the V-2 had run out of fuel. In the thin upper atmosphere, velocities of rockets are essentially additive, and the bumper rocket was able to reach a record height of over 400 kilometres and a velocity of 8300 kilometres per hour.