Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5
Encyclopedia
Launch Complex 5 was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
, Florida
used for various Redstone
and Jupiter launches.
It is most well known as the launch site for NASA
's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3
flight, which made Alan Shepard
the first American in space. It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom
’s Mercury-Redstone 4
flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1
pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A
, and Mercury-Redstone 2
, with chimpanzee Ham
aboard, also used LC-5.
A total of 23 launches were conducted from LC-5: one Jupiter-A, six Jupiter IRBMs, one Jupiter-C
, four Juno I
s, four Juno II
s and seven Redstones. The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.
LC-5 is located next to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum
. The original consoles used to launch the Mercury-Redstone rockets
are on display in the blockhouse. a tour of the blockhouse (and the museum) can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
's "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" tour. One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...
, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
used for various Redstone
Redstone (rocket)
The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range surface-to-surface rocket, it was in active service with the U.S. Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe...
and Jupiter launches.
It is most well known as the launch site for NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3
Mercury-Redstone 3
Mercury-Redstone 3 was the first manned space mission of the United States. Astronaut Alan Shepard piloted a 15-minute Project Mercury suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961 to become the first American in space, three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had carried...
flight, which made Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
the first American in space. It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom
Gus Grissom
Virgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...
’s Mercury-Redstone 4
Mercury-Redstone 4
Mercury-Redstone 4 was the second United States manned space mission, launched on July 21, 1961. The Mercury program suborbital flight used a Redstone rocket. The spacecraft was named Liberty Bell 7 piloted by astronaut Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom. It reached an altitude of more than 118.26 mi ...
flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1
Mercury-Redstone 1
Mercury-Redstone 1 was the first Mercury-Redstone mission in the Mercury program and the first attempt to launch a Mercury spacecraft with the Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. Intended to be an unmanned sub-orbital flight, it was launched on November 21, 1960 from Cape Canaveral, Florida...
pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A
Mercury-Redstone 1A
Mercury-Redstone 1A was launched on December 19, 1960 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The mission objectives of this unmanned suborbital flight were to qualify the spacecraft for space flight and qualify the system for an upcoming primate suborbital flight. The spacecraft tested its...
, and Mercury-Redstone 2
Mercury-Redstone 2
Mercury-Redstone 2 was an American space mission, launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Mercury spacecraft No...
, with chimpanzee Ham
Ham the Chimp
Ham , also known as Ham the Chimp and Ham the Astrochimp, was the first chimpanzee launched into outer space in the American space program...
aboard, also used LC-5.
A total of 23 launches were conducted from LC-5: one Jupiter-A, six Jupiter IRBMs, one Jupiter-C
Jupiter-C
The Jupiter-C was an American sounding rocket used for three sub-orbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957 to test re-entry nosecones that were later to be deployed on the more advanced PGM-19 Jupiter mobile missile....
, four Juno I
Juno I
The Juno I was a four-stage American booster rocket which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. A member of the Redstone rocket family, it was derived from the Jupiter-C sounding rocket...
s, four Juno II
Juno II
Juno II was an American space launch vehicle used during the late 1950s and early 1960s. It was derived from the Jupiter missile, which was used as the first stage.-Development:...
s and seven Redstones. The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.
LC-5 is located next to the Air Force Space & Missile Museum
Air Force Space & Missile Museum
The Air Force Space & Missile Museum is located at Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. It includes artifacts from the early American space program and includes an outdoor rocket garden displaying rockets, missiles and space-related equipment chronicling the US Air...
. The original consoles used to launch the Mercury-Redstone rockets
Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle
The Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American in space.A member of the...
are on display in the blockhouse. a tour of the blockhouse (and the museum) can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is the visitor center at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. It features exhibits and displays, historic spacecraft and memorabilia, shows, two IMAX theaters, a range of bus tours of the spaceport, and the Shuttle Launch Experience, a simulated ride into...
's "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" tour. One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.
Launch chronology
- July 19, 1956: Jupiter-A CC-13
- September 20, 1956: Jupiter-C RS-27
- March 1, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1A
- April 26, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1B
- May 31, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1
- March 26, 1958: Juno I RS-24 (Explorer 3Explorer 3Explorer 3 was an artificial satellite of the Earth, nearly identical to the first United States artificial satellite Explorer 1 in its design and mission...
) - May 17, 1958: Redstone RS-1002
- July 26, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-44 (Explorer 4Explorer 4Explorer 4 was a US satellite launched on July 26, 1958. It was instrumented by Dr. James van Allen's group. The Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency had initially planned two satellites for the purposes of studying the Van Allen radiation belts and the effects of nuclear...
) - August 24, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-47 (Explorer 5Explorer 5Explorer 5 was a United States satellite with a weight of 17.24 kg.It launched atop a Jupiter-C rocket on August 24, 1958 from Launch Complex 5, but failed when the rocket's booster collided with its second stage after separation, causing the upper stage firing angle to be off.- References :...
) - October 23, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-49 (Beacon 1)
- December 6, 1958: Juno II AM-11 (Pioneer 3Pioneer 3Pioneer 3 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched at 05:45:12 UTC on 6 December 1958 by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency in conjunction with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration...
)
- January 22, 1959: Jupiter IRBM CM-21
- March 3, 1959: Juno II AM-14 (Pioneer 4Pioneer 4Pioneer 4 was a spin-stabilized spacecraft launched as part of the Pioneer program on a lunar flyby trajectory and into a heliocentric orbit making it the first U.S. probe to escape from the Earth's gravity. It carried a payload similar to Pioneer 3: a lunar radiation environment experiment using a...
) - May 14, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-17
- July 16, 1959: Juno II AM-16 (Explorer S-1, failed)
- August 27, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-19
- October 13, 1959: Juno II AM-19A (Explorer 7Explorer 7Explorer 7 was launched October 13, 1959 at 10:36 a.m. Eastern Time by a Juno II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to an orbit of 573 km by 1073 km and inclination of 50.27°. It was designed to measure solar x-ray and Lyman-alpha flux, trapped energetic particles, and heavy...
)
- November 21, 1960: Redstone MRLVMercury-Redstone Launch VehicleThe Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle, designed for NASA's Project Mercury, was the first American manned space booster. It was used for six sub-orbital Mercury flights from 1960–61; culminating with the launch of the first, and 11 weeks later, the second American in space.A member of the...
-1 (MR-1) - December 19, 1960: Redstone MRLV-3 (MR-1A)
- January 31, 1961: Redstone MRLV-2 (MR-2Mercury-Redstone 2Mercury-Redstone 2 was an American space mission, launched at 16:55 UTC on January 31, 1961 from LC-5 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Mercury spacecraft No...
) - March 24, 1961: Redstone MRLV-5 (MR-BD)
- May 5, 1961: Redstone MRLV-7 (MR-3)
- July 21, 1961: Redstone MRLV-8 (MR-4)
See also
- Air Force Space & Missile MuseumAir Force Space & Missile MuseumThe Air Force Space & Missile Museum is located at Launch Complex 26 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. It includes artifacts from the early American space program and includes an outdoor rocket garden displaying rockets, missiles and space-related equipment chronicling the US Air...
- List of Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island launch sites
- Project MercuryProject MercuryIn January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
- Jupiter
- RedstoneRedstone (rocket family)The Redstone family of rockets consisted of a number of American ballistic missiles, sounding rockets and expendable launch vehicles operational during the 1950s and 60s. The first member of the family was the PGM-11 Redstone missile, from which all other members were derived. The first large U.S...
- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 6Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 6Launch Complex 6 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida is a launch site used by Redstone and Jupiter series rockets and missiles. It is on the south end of Cape Canaveral, close to Launch Complex 5, with which it shared a blockhouse. With LC-5, it was the location of the first tests of the...
- used the same blockhouse
External links
- http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capallc5.htm