Redstone

The Redstone missile was developed by a team led by Dr. Werner von Braun, which had been working for the U.S. Army at Fort Bliss, Texas, after World War II, and in 1950 the team moved to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, where the Army consolidated its rocket development activities. The arsenal, and later the missile, took their name from the red rocks and soil of the Huntsville area. Known as the Army's "Old Reliable," Redstone was a highly accurate, liquid-propelled surface-to-surface missile derived directly from the German V-2 and capable of carrying nuclear or conventional warheads to targets up to about 200 miles away. Its liquid-fueled engine produced nearly 75,000 pounds of thrust by burning alcohol with liquid oxygen, accelerating the missile to 3,800 miles per hour, while tail fins with movable rudders and refractory carbon vanes in the exhaust plume controlled it during powered ascent. To conceal production totals, missiles were numbered with a letter code based on the word Huntsville. The missile system was retired in 1964 after the faster and more mobile Pershing missile was developed. Variants of Redstone launched the first American satellite, Explorer I, and served as the launch vehicle for the first two American astronauts, showing how a weapon system also became an instrument of science and exploration. Fifty-nine Redstone vehicles of all variants were launched from Complex 4, 5, 6, and 26 at Cape Canaveral from 1953 to 1961.

Florida · United States