The Redstone Rocket
The Redstone is a United States Army surface-to-sur�face missile that is designed
to supplement artillery cannon. It can be equipped with either a nuclear or
high-explosive warhead.
This missile is propelled by a 78,000-pound-thrust liquid-fuel engine that gives
it a range of 200 miles. It is 70 feet long, 51/2 feet in diameter, and weighs
62,-000 pounds. Top speed is 3800 miles per hour.
The Redstone can be transported by air, rail, or truck and assembled in the field.
It is fired from a portable launcher.
This rocket served as the first stage of the space vehicles that launched Explorer
I� the first United States satellite� Explorer III, and Explorer IV. The Redstone
will also be used to carry our Mercury astro�nauts on short test flights into
space prior to the launch�ing which will send one of them into orbit around the
earth.
On January 31, 1961, a souped-up version of this highly reliable rocket shot a
Project Mercury capsule, with a 371/2 -pound chimpanzee named Ham aboard,155 miles
into space and 420 miles out over the Atlantic Ocean at a speed of 5,000 miles
per hour. Ham's trip was hailed as a big step toward manned space flights.
