The landing on the moon by the crew of Apollo 11 in July 1969 was one of mankind's greatest achievements. But the roots of this fantastic technological feat lie in a little German fishing village called Peenemünde on the northern coast of the island of Usedom in Northern Germany. This was the site of a secret weapon development establishment, which was the cradle of technology which made manned space flight possible in later years. Yet the legend that surrounds Peenemünde is closely tied to death and destruction. It was on the 3rd October 1942 that the 'Aggregat 4' rocket - later called the V2 by Nazi propaganda officials - was successfully launched. It flew the distance of 147 kilometers and became the first man-made device to actually reach the borders of space. This programme uses imposing film material and exciting interviews to tell the story of the development work that was done in Peenemünde and how the people close to Wernher von Braun and Walter Dornberger lived and worked. How did the Allies manage to discover some of the secrets of the weapons developed in Peenemünde? Just how much influence did Hitler and Himmler have on the project? Which secret projects were still under development in spring 1945. And which weapon systems continued to be developed by the Americans after the war?
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