Launch Complex 33
a.k.a. White Sands V-2 Launching Site;White Sands Blockhouse and Ga
White Sands Missile Range, White Sands Missile Range, NMLaunch Complex 33 is significant because of its close association with the V-2 and the origins of the American Rocket Program. Launch Complex 33 was developed specifically to accommodate V-2 rocket tests at White Sands. The V-2 Gantry Crane and Army Blockhouse represent the first generation of rocket testing facilities that eventually would lead to the American exploration of Space and the first manned landing on the moon. This site test fired 67 V-2 rockets between 1946 and 1951, the first major rocket firings conducted in the United States. The V-2 was the first vehicle to carry scientific instruments into the upper atmosphere and the first large rocket with a liquid propellant motor. The V-2 provided the technological base upon which the United States would build to develop the Saturn family of rockets that eventually carried Americans to the moon and beyond.
Local significance of the site:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.