History
In 1952 captured V2's were still in use at the White Sands Proving Ground. in New Mexico as large sounding rockets.
V-2 number 59 carried a seven air sample bottles in tree canisters for collecting air samples from the upper atmosphere. An experiment carried out by the University of Michigan.
The rocket was send to an attitude of 76 miles or 122 km. Then a JATO rocket should have ejected the nosecone. All though the JATO rocket did not ignite, the nosecone fell of anyway allowing the the experiment to go on.
When finished, the air-bottles were parachuted back to the ground, as planned.
Sources:
Rockets of the world by Peter Alway
Begg's Aerospace
The V-2 in america - www.rocket.aero
Von Braun: Dreamer of Space, Engineer of War
by Michael J. Neufeld,
V-2 Ballistic Missile 1942-1952 by Steven J. Zagola
Dawn of the Rocket Age by Joachim Engelmann
The Rocket - The History and Development of Rocket and Missile Technology by David Baker. | 
