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| Jupiter C - Jupiter C - COSPAR 1958-Alpha 10,275 bytes. 125 x 479 pixels. |
Satellite launcher derived from Redstone IRBM. Redstone missiles were launched with upper stages to test Jupiter reentry vehicle configurations. The first US rocket with orbital launch capability. Von Braun's team was ordered to ballast the upper stage with sand to prevent any 'inadvertent' artificial satellites from stealing thunder from the official Vanguard program. Korolev's R-7 orbited the first earth satellite instead. The Jupiter C was retroactively named the 'Juno I' by Von Braun's team.
Launches: 6. Failures: 3. Success Rate: 50.00% pct. First Launch Date: 01 February 1958. Last Launch Date: 23 October 1958. Liftoff Thrust: 37,630 kgf. Total Mass: 29,060 kg. Core Diameter: 1.8 m. Total Length: 23.0 m. Development Cost $: 92.50 million. in 1956 average dollars. Flyaway Unit Cost $: 1.99 million. in 1959 unit dollars. Cost comments: Development, flyaway cost for Redstone missile.
In a meeting, Dr. Wernher von Braun, Frederick C. Durant III, Alexander Satin, David Young, Dr. Fred L. Whipple, Dr. S. Fred Singer, and Commander George W. Hoover agreed that a Redstone rocket with a Loki cluster as the second stage could launch a satellite into a 200-mile orbit without major new developments. This became a joint Army-Navy study project after meeting at Redstone Arsenal on August 3. Project Orbiter was a later outgrowth of this proposal and resulted in the launching of Explorer I on January 31, 1958.
Von Braun report 'A Minimum Satellite Vehicle Based on Components Available from Developments of the Army Ordnance Corps' in response to June Pentagon meeting proposes $ 100,000 to launch satellite by Redstone.
Research and development Policy Council (DOD) unanimously recommended that the time-risk factor in the scientific satellite program be brought to the attention of the Secretary of the Defense for determination as to whether a Redstone backup program was indicated.
Army activated the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Ala., to weaponize the Redstone and to develop the Jupiter IRBM.
 | Jupiter C launch Credit: NASA. 8,494 bytes. 138 x 344 pixels. |
First Jupiter C (a three-stage ABMA-JPL Redstone missile) was launched at Cape Canaveral, Fla., attained an altitude of 1096 km and traveled 5,300 km downrange. The first three-stage re-entry missile, was fired at 0145 hours EST from AMR. This missile attained an estimated range of 3,335 ST miles, an altitude of 682 ST miles, and reached Mach 18 velocity. The primary objective of the firing was the propulsion and separation tart of a multi-stage vehicle. The missile was a four-stage configuration with the last stage inactive. The first stage was an elongated Redstone missile, the second and third stages were up of 11 and 3 six-inch scaled SERGEANT rockets, respectively. The payload consisted of approximately 20 pounds of instrumentation attached to the inactive fourth stage. The flight was successful and the sequence of operations occurred as programmed. This vehicle could have obtained sufficient velocity to place it in orbit, if the last stage had been activated. First deep penetration of space. Serial number coding for early Redstones and related vehicles used the following substitution cipher: 1234567890 = HUNTSVILLEX
 | Jupiter Cc Credit: © Mark Wade. 924 bytes. 63 x 301 pixels. |
The second three-stage re-entry missile, was launched at 0255 hours EST from AMR to test the thermal behaviour of a scaled-down version of the Jupiter nose cone during re-entry. The separated nose cone, which weighed 314 pounds, should have reached a nominal range of 1,212 nm. The missile began. to pitch up at 134 seconds, and impact was 420 nm short of the intended impact point. The composite missile consisted of three stages. The first stage was an elongated Redstone using alcohol and liquid oxygen as propellant. The second and third stages were made up of clusters of 11 and 3 scaled-down Sergeant solid propellant rockets, respectively. The nose cone was not recovered; however, instrument contact with the nose cone through re-entry indicated that the ablative-type heat protection for warheads was successful. Nose Cone Recovery Test
A Jupiter-C (test vehicle in the Jupiter missile development program), with a scale-model nose cone, was fired 1,200 miles down the Atlantic Missile Range. The nose cone, an ablative type, reached a peak altitude of over 600 miles, and its recovery was one of the proving steps of the ablative reentry principle. The nose cone was displayed by President Eisenhower to a nation-wide television audience on November 7, 1957.
 | Redstone engine Credit: NASA. 33,508 bytes. 386 x 305 pixels. |
First Nose Cone Recovery. Army-JPL Jupiter-C fired a scale-model nose cone 1,200 miles down range from AMR with a summit altitude of 600 miles. Recovery the next day of aerodynamic nose cone using ablation, resolved reentry heating problem for Jupiter missile. Nose cone was shown to the Nation on TV by President Eisenhower on November 7.
Fired from AMR at 0159 hours EST, impacted at the predicted range. This success proved conclusively that the planned ablative-type heat protection for Jupiter warheads was satisfactory. The missile was a three-stage configuration--the first stage an elongated Redstone missile, the second and third stages 11 and 3 six-inch scaled Sergeant rockets, respectively. The one-third scale Jupiter nose cone was attached to the final stage with scheme for separation provided. The nose cone travelled to a 1,168 nm range, reached a velocity of 4,004 m/sec, and experienced a total heat input at stagnation point at 95% of that for the full scale nose cone at 1,500 nm. Naval units recovered the scaled nose cone according to plan.
 | Wresat Credit: © Mark Wade. 930 bytes. 65 x 304 pixels. |
Secretary of Defense Neil McElroy directed the Army to proceed with the launching of the Explorer earth satellites. This order, in effect, resumed the Orbiter project that had been eliminated from the IGY satellite planning program on September 9, 1955. Von Braun was to modify two Jupiter-C missiles (modified Redstones) and attempt to place an artificial earth satellite in orbit by March 58.
Explorer I, the first U.S. earth satellite, was launched by a modified Army Ballistic Missile Agency Jupiter-C. Explorer I, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, carried the U.S.-IGY (International Geophysical Year) experiment of James A. Van Allen and resulted in the discovery of the radiation belt around the earth.
 | Jupiter C Credit: NASA. 18,748 bytes. 390 x 480 pixels. |
Radiation, micrometeoroid data.
Mapped project Argus radiation.
NASA¾with the Army as executive agent¾attempted to launch a 12-foot-diameter inflatable satellite of micro-thin plastic covered with aluminum foil known as BEACON. Launched from AMR by a Juno I¾a modified Redstone, the payload prematurely separated prior to booster burnout.