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 & 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 & became the first man-made device to actually reach the borders of space. This programme uses imposing film material & exciting interviews to tell the story of the development work that was done in Peenemünde & how the people close to Wernher von Braun & Walter Dornberger lived & worked. How did the Allies manage to discover some of the secrets of the weapons developed in Peenemünde? Just how much influence did Hitler & Himmler have on the project? Which secret projects were still under development in spring 1945. & which weapon systems continued to be developed by the Americans after the war.