vanguard tv-0 success was an important part of the space race. the space race started between united states and the soviet union at the end of world war ii, as a race began to retrieve as many v-2 rockets and nazi germany v-2 staff as possible. three hundred rail-car loads of v-2 rocket weapons and parts were captured and shipped to the united states, also 126 of the principal designers of the v-2, including wernher von braun and walter dornberger, went to america. von braun, his brother magnus von braun, and seven others decided to surrender to the united states military in operation paperclip to ensure they were not captured by the advancing soviets or shot dead by the nazis to prevent their capture. thus the v-2 program started the space race, the v-2 could not orbit, but could reach a height of 88 km (55 mi) on long range trajectory and up to 206 km (128 mi) if launched vertically.