arms pulled away just after the engine ignited, releasing the missile. The setup may look similar to the R-7 Semyorka launch procedure but in the case of the R-7 the trusses hold the full weight of the rocket, rather than just reacting to side forces. The PGM-11 Redstone rocket is a direct descendant of the V-2. USSR The USSR also captured a number of V-2s and staff, letting them stay in Germany for a time. The first work contracts were signed in the middle of 1945. During October 1946 (as part of Operation Osoaviakhim) they were obliged to relocate to Branch 1 of NII-88 on Gorodomlya Island in Lake Seliger where Helmut Gröttrup directed a group of 150 engineers. In October 1947, a group of German scientists supported the USSR in launching rebuilt V-2s in Kapustin Yar. The German team was indirectly overseen by Sergei Korolev, the "chief designer" of the Soviet rocketry program. The first Soviet missile was the R-1, a duplicate of the V-2 manufactured completely in the USSR, which was launched first during October 1948. From 1947 until the end of 1950, the German team elaborated concepts and improvements for extended payload and range for the projects G-1, G-2 and G-4. The German team had to remain on Gorodomlya island until as late as 1952 and 1953. In parallel, Soviet work emphasized larger missiles, the R-2 and R-5, based on further developing the V-2 technology with using ideas of the German concept studies. Details of Soviet achievements were unknown to the German team and completely underestimated by Western intelligence until, in November 1957, the satellite Sputnik 1 was launched successfully to orbit by the Sputnik rocket based on R-7, the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. During the autumn of 1945, the group directed by M. Tikhonravov K. and N. G. Chernyshov at the NII-4 rocket artillery institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences developed on their own initiative the first stratospheric rocket project. Project VR-190 planned for vertical flight of two pilots to an altitude of 200 km using captured German V-2 rockets. China The first Chinese Dongfeng missile, the DF-1 was a licensed copy of the Soviet R-2; this design was used during the 1960s. Surviving V-2 examples and components At least 20 V-2s still existed during 2014. Australia One at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, including a complete Meillerwagen transporter. The rocket has the most