Hermes II

Hermes B

Mission Profile

Hermes II (also known as Hermes B) was an American two-stage sounding rocket developed by the U.S. Army's Ordnance Corps at White Sands after World War II, directly based on the captured German A-4 (V-2) technology. Standing 7.6 meters tall with a liftoff mass of approximately 3,400 kg, it was used for high-altitude research missions beginning in 1946. Developed as part of the broader Hermes program aimed at advancing American ballistic missile technology, the Hermes II contributed to the knowledge base that led to subsequent U.S. missile and rocket development. The program ran concurrently with parallel efforts to study and adapt German V-2 hardware that had been shipped to the United States.