The V-2 rocket (German: Vergeltungswaffe 2) was the first ballistic missile an first man-made object to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight, the progenitor of all modern rockets including the Saturn V moon rocket. Over 3,000 V-2s were launched as military rockets by the German Wehrmacht against Allied targets in World War II, resulting in the death of 7,250, military personnel and civilians, while as many as 20,000 at Mittelbau-Dora died constructing V-2s.