| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Redstone | ||
|---|---|---|
Redstone launching Freedom 7. | ||
| Stages | 1 | |
| 1 | Engines | 1 * A-6 |
| Thrust | 78,000 lb (347 kN) | |
| Burn time | ~155 s | |
| ISP | 2599 Ns/kg | |
| Fuels | Alcohol/LOX | |
| Payload to 185 km 115 mi | 1,300kg 2,850 lb | |
First launched in 1953, the American Redstone rocket was a direct descendant of the German V-2.
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. 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.
Redstone could be armed with a 1 Mt or 3.75 Mt thermonuclear warhead. The Redstone was used to launch two live nuclear tests that were detonated during the nuclear test series Operation HardtackRB-57 Canberra observes Juniper. Operation Hardtack I & II was a series of 72 nuclear tests conducted by the United States in 1958. With test moratoriums on the horizon, American weapons labs rushed out many new designs. Hardtack I was carried out in the 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 thermonuclear devices were 3.75 Mt weapons. These were the first live nuclear missile tests by the United States.
The Jupiter was a direct descendant of the Redstone. Many believe the U.S. could have beaten the Soviet UnionThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR ( Russian: ; tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik (SSSR) also called the Soviet Union ( ; tr. Sovetsky Soyuz , was a state in much of the northern region of Eurasia that existed from 1922 until 1 into space if the ABMA had been allowed to attempt a satellite launch with the Jupiter-CThe Jupiter-C Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM was designed by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) The vehicle consists of a modified Redstone ballistic missile with three solid-propellant upper stages. The tankage of the Redstone was lengt.
Redstone was also responsible for the following suborbital launches in the United States Mercury program:
Redstone production was halted in late 1964.