Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Diameter, nozzle, 31.5 in. ; overall diameter, approx. 33 in. x 100 in. long (83.82 x 254cm)
Other (combustion chamber, outside): 33 in. (83.82cm); length, combustion chamber, 65.5 in.
Materials:
Combustion chamber and injectors, 4130 steel; propellant lines and valves, aluminum allows; pumps and impellers, aluminum alloys; heat exchanger, non-ferrous metal; steam generator, steel
This is the Redstone missile engine. Developed from 1950, it served as the powerplant for the Redstone missile, this country's first large-scale operational liquid propellant missile. On 31 January 1958, a modified version of the engine propelled the Jupiter-C launch vehicle that orbited the U.S.'s first artificial satellite, Explorer 1. The engine also launched the first American into space, Alan B. Shepard, aboard the Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3) on 5 May 1961.
In the Redstone missile the engine had a thrust of 78,000 pounds and used liquid oxygen and alcohol. As a booster for MR-3, it used Hydyne propellant, a hydrazine derivative, and produced 83,000 lbs of thrust.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
