Date: 1958
Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Overall: 66 ft. 7 3/16 in. tall x 5 ft. 10 in. diameter, 64200 lb. (2029.97 x 177.8cm, 29120.9kg)
Materials:
Body, mainly aluminum; some steel including rocket engine and launch stand; exhaust vanes, carbon phenolic.
This is a full-scale reproduction of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle built by the Reynolds Metals Company has a replica of the Explorer I satellite on top. The Jupiter-C launched the Explorer I on January 31, 1958 as the U.S.'s first artificial satellite.
The Jupiter-C was a modified Army Redstone liquid-fuel rocket with solid-fuel upper stages and a slightly more powerful main stage engine. The Explorer 1 instruments recorded cosmic rays, micrometeorites, temperatures, and radiations. This rocket was transferred to the Smithsonian by the Army in 1959.
Transferred from the U.S. Army
