Redstone (rocket)

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Redstone
Redstone launching Freedom 7.
Stages		1
1	Engines	1 × A-6
Thrust		78,000 lbf (347 kN)
Burn time		~155 s
ISP		265 s
Fuels		Alcohol/LOX
Payload to 185 km 115 mi		1,300 kg 2,850 lb

First launched in 1953, the American Redstone rocket was a direct descendant of the German V-2. It was used for the first live nuclear missile tests by the United States. It was also known as the Redstone MRBM (medium range ballistic missile).

A product of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama, under the leadership of Wernher von Braun, it was designed as a surface-to-surface missile for the U.S. Army and was first deployed in 1958. Chrysler was awarded the contract and began production in 1952. A total of four mobile launchers and equipment, with one reload each, (a total of 8 Redstone MRBM missiles) were deployed in West Germany until 1963. The Redstone was capable of flights up to 200 miles (300 km). It burned alcohol and liquid oxygen (LOX).

Redstones could be armed with either a 1 or a 3.75 megaton thermonuclear warhead. A Redstone rocket was used to launch two live nuclear tests that were detonated during the nuclear test series Operation Hardtack in August 1958, from Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. On August, 1 1958, Redstone #CC50 launched nuclear test Teak that detonated at an altitude of 77.8 km. On August 12, 1958, Redstone #CC51 launched nuclear test Orange to a detonation altitude of 43 km. Both payloads were 3.75 megaton weapons; they were the first live nuclear missile tests by the United States.

The Jupiter IRBM (intermediate range ballistic missile) was a direct descendant of the Redstone. Modified Redstone missiles, with solid upper stages added, were used in a series of nosecone development tests for the Jupiter IRBM. These modified Redstone missiles were called Jupiter-C rockets.

Many believe the U.S. could have beaten the Soviet Union into space if the ABMA had been allowed to attempt a satellite launch with the Jupiter-C rocket. A satellite could have been launched by a Jupiter-C in August 1956 if given the go ahead by U.S. government officials. The Eisenhower administration, however, wanted the first U.S. satellite to be launched by a civilian developed rocket instead of a military missile. The Vanguard rocket was being developed for this purpose. They ordered Von Braun not to attempt any satellite launches. The Vanguard rocket failed on the first attempt to launch the Vanguard satellite in December 1957, crashing back to the pad and exploding. The Eisenhower administration then turned to the U.S. Army. The ABMA and von Braun were asked to launch a backup satellite as soon as possible. When the Jupiter-C was finally used to launch the Explorer I satellite in January 1958, its Jupiter-C launch vehicle was renamed the Juno I.

Redstone MRBM and Jupiter IRBM propellant tanks were clustered together along with eight Jupiter IRBM engines to form the first stage of the Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets. First developed by the ABMA, the Saturn rocket was later adopted by NASA. These were America's first large launch vehicles. The first of these was launched in 1961.

Redstone was also used in several suborbital launches in the United States Mercury program:

Mercury-Redstone 1, Launched 4 inches (100 mm)
Mercury-Redstone 1A, Successful unmanned flight
Mercury-Redstone 2 (Carrying Ham the chimpanzee)
Mercury-Redstone BD Booster Development - final test before manned flight
Freedom 7 (Mercury-Redstone 3), America's first human in space, Alan Shepard.
Liberty Bell 7 (Mercury-Redstone 4), America's second human in space, Gus Grissom.

Redstone production was halted in late 1964 and the Redstone missile was replaced by the Pershing missile in the U.S. Army arsenal.

In the late 1960s a series of surplus modified Redstone MRBM missiles were launched in Australia as part of a military test program of reentry vehicles. These Redstone missiles had solid fuel upper stages added to them. One of these Redstone missiles was used to launch Australia's first satellite, Wresat, in 1967. These series of Australian modified Redstone missiles were called Sparta rockets.

[edit] Trivia

The Redstone in Grand Central.

Shortly after the launch of Sputnik, a Redstone missile was briefly placed in the lobby of Grand Central Terminal. The missile was six inches too tall to fit, so a hole was cut in the ceiling.