Today Is...The Launch Of First Man Made Object Into Space

America and the Soviet Union fought it out to become the Space Race winners and both nations can count many firsts to argue their point to who actually won but the first nation to actually launch a rocket into Space in 1944 was Nazi Germany so every cosmonaut and astronaut that followed can say thanks to Hitler. Danke Adolf.
The MW 18014 V-2 rocket reached an altitude of 118 miles (176 km) before it plummeted back to Earth on top of some terrified bystanders, becoming the first man-made object to reach outer space and the brains behind it was Wernher von Braun and all he wanted to do was develop the means send man to the moon which is what he explained to the Nazi's when they came knocking and they said Jah, but as you are aiming rockets at the stars, could you maybe also aim a few towards London and as the Nazi's were not renown for taking no for an answer, he ended up working as the Technical Director in Germany's rocket development program and developing the V2 rocket.
Luckily for Germany's enemies, the rockets were unreliable and not the war-winning innovation they hoped it would be and by the time they got their head around them not blowing up on the launch platform the war was almost over and during the aftermath of World War II, the American government gained access to the V-2’s technical designs and the scientists responsible for creating the rockets.
The Americans recruited all 1,600 of the NAZI rocket scientists under a program called Operation Paperclip and von Braun explained that all he wanted to do was develop the means send man to the moon and they said Yes, but as you are aiming rockets at the stars, could you also maybe aim a few towards Pyongyang and he was put to work on their intermediate-range ballistic missile program just as the Korean War was starting up.
In the late 1950's von Braun's team was assimilated into Americas brand spanking new space program and worked as the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon and one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.