Launch Complex 26 included a building that served as the control center for its two launch pads and supported the U.S. Army's Redstone, Jupiter, and Juno ballistic missile and launch vehicle programs between 1957 and 1963. Explorer I, the first successful American satellite, was launched from Pad A on 31 January 1958, and Gordo, Able, and Baker were launched from Pad B in 1958 and 1959, helping pave the way for future manned space flight. Italian and Turkish NATO combat crews trained there to operate the Jupiter missile. After 36 launches, the complex was deactivated in 1963 and set aside the following year for use as a space museum. The Blockhouse was built to protect launch crews from catastrophic failure of a launch vehicle only 400 feet away, with reinforced concrete, two-foot-thick walls, a dome-shaped roof five to eight feet thick, windows made of 45 layers of glass totaling twelve inches, heavy armor plating on the inner and outer blast doors, and three-foot-deep cableways that still connect the building to the launch pads.