Historic video: V-2 rocket reaches space October 1946

In October 1946 a captured V-2 rocket launched from the then US Army Ordnance Proving Grounds (what is now White Sands Missile Range) in New Mexico, reached space by achieving an altitude of 342,900ft (104,600m).

A mounted camera, provided by John Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, secured continuous motion picture of the Earth's surface at altitude from 100ft to 65 miles (105km).

Above: the first photograph of the horizon of Earth taken from space. Photographed at an altitude of 105km, at this point the camera was theoretically 1,200km from the horizon and the picture takes in 10,360km2 (40,000 sq miles) of space

Thanks to White Sands Missile Range, which owns the film, and Virgin Galactic, the video of the ascent is presented here.