Redstone (rocket family)

The Redstone family of rockets consisted of a number of American

First launched in 1953, the

Jupiter-A was the first variant of Redstone, used to test components later used in the PGM-19 Jupiter medium-range ballistic missile.

Jupiter-C

Juno I

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Juno I was a derivative of the Jupiter-C, used to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. Although the U.S. possibly could have put a satellite into orbit before the Soviet Union had the ABMA been allowed to attempt a satellite launch in August 1956, the Eisenhower administration wanted the first U.S. satellite to be launched by a civilian rocket developed by American engineers instead of a rocket derived from a military missile program and developed by the German engineers of Operation Paperclip. Additionally, the administration saw value in the USSR taking the first move to reach orbit because they would set the precedent that territorial overflight in space was fair game, necessary for the United States' space-based photoreconaissance ambitions in the wake of diplomatic protests against U-2 incursions of Soviet airspace.

The

Mercury-Redstone

The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle (MRLV), also known as Mercury-Redstone, used the stretched Redstone configuration from the Jupiter-C for six suborbital launches for Project Mercury in 1960 and 1961, including United States' first two human spaceflights:

• Mercury-Redstone 1, abort, traveled 4 inches (100 mm)
• Mercury-Redstone 1A, successful uncrewed flight
• Mercury-Redstone 2, carried Ham, a chimpanzee
• Mercury-Redstone BD, booster development – final test before crewed flight
• Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7), first American in space, Alan Shepard
• Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7), second American in space, Gus Grissom

Sparta

Sparta was the name given to a series of surplus Redstone missiles with two solid-fuel upper stages launched as part of a joint US-UK research project with Australia from 1966 to 1967. Sparta launched Australia's first Earth satellite, WRESAT.

Saturn

Two members of the

References

Notes