Bumper

Bumper WAC

Mission Profile

The Bumper (Bumper WAC) was a two-stage American sounding rocket in the Aggregat lineage, the first two-stage rocket ever launched, combining a V-2 first stage with a WAC Corporal second stage. Standing 17.7 m tall with a 1.7 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 12.9 tonnes, it generated 270 kN of first-stage thrust. First flying in May 1948 at White Sands Proving Ground, the Bumper reached record altitudes of over 390 km and its final two flights in 1950 were the first launches from Cape Canaveral, inaugurating the site that would become humanity's gateway to space.