What is Redstone (rocket)?

Redstone
Redstone launch 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).

End of service was in the 1960s; modified Redstone missiles were called Sparta rockets.

History

As a ballistic missile

A product of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) 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 eight Redstone MRBM missiles) were deployed in West Germany until 1963. The Redstone was capable of flights up to 200 mi (300 km). It burned alcohol and liquid oxygen (LOX).

Redstones could be armed with either a 1 or a 3.75 Mt 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 Mt 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.

As a satellite launch vehicle

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 as the military projects were top priorities and could not be delayed for civilian uses. 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 in (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.

End of service

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.

Trivia

Shortly after the launch of Sputnik, a Redstone missile was briefly placed in the lobby of Grand Central Terminal.

In the 1960s, in honor of Warren, New Hampshire native and sitting U.S. Senator, Norris Cotton, Henry T. Asselin donated a Mercury Redstone-3, similar to the Freedom 7 that carried New Hampshire native Alan Shepard, America's first man in space, to the town. The Redstone Rocket still occupies a prominent place in the center of the town.

Minor league baseball player and fastball pitcher Jeff Locke of Redstone, New Hampshire, a village in the town of Conway, New Hampshire, is nicknamed "The Redstone Rocket".[1]

External links

• The Mercury Redstone Project (PDF) December 1964
• Redstone from Encyclopedia Astronautica
• http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/systems/redstone/welcome.html
• Boeing: History -- Products - North American Aviation Rocketdyne Redstone Rocket Engine

Lists of Aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers | Airlines | Air forces | Aircraft weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation

•  • [ e] List of expendable launch vehicles
Current:	Ariane 5 Atlas V Athena Cosmos-3M Delta II Delta IV Dnepr GSLV H-IIA Long March Minotaur Molniya Pegasus Proton PSLV Rockot Shavit Start-1 Strela Soyuz (U, FG, 2) Taurus Tsyklon Volna Zenit
Planned:	Angara Ariane M GSLV III GX H-IIB Long March 5 Vega
Historical:	Ariane (1, 2, 3, 4) Atlas (ICBM derived, II, III) Black Arrow Delta III Diamant Energia Europa H-II J-I Juno I M-V N1 R-7 Semyorka Saturn (I, IB ,V, INT-21) Scout Thor Titan (I, II, III, IIIB, IV) Vanguard Voskhod Vostok