Image: US Army/White Sands Missile Range.

On this date in 1945, Wernher von Braun, along with a small contingent of German aerospace engineers, arrive at Fort Bliss, Texas. Over 100 more Peenemünde rocket engineers will soon follow as part of Operation Paperclip. A concise history of the early space program, including information about Operation Paperclip, may be found at NASA’s history pages here.