>Explosive charges were then used to achieve warhead blowoff, which was obtained in the third APL [Applied Physics Laboratory] flight, on July 30, 1946. While the warhead itself with its steel-drum recorders was never located, the after- body of the rocket was found in fairly good condition. No tangible scientific results were obtained from those initial flights because of a comprehensive variety of mistakes of omission and commission in the exciting and demanding early learning stages of a new art. Despite that, Van Allen and his team pressed on with their programs, learning rapidly by diagnosis of their failures.

From May 1946 until February 1949, 10 V-2 rockets were instrumented by APL and fired at White Sands. Experiments ranged from preliminary surveys and exploratory measurements of cosmic radiation to investigation of the transition effects of the cosmic radiation in lead, as well as solar spectroscopy and high-altitude photography.

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