Jupiter-C Rocket (Replica)
Jupiter-C Rocket (Replica)
Cylindrical, lengthened Redstone missile body for carrying more fuel and smaller, shorter cylinder on top fitted into flared nosecap with much smaller cylinder on top, with blunt nose cone. The second, smaller cylinder is the vehicle's 2nd and 3rd stages. The smallest, uppermost cylinder is the Explorer 1 satellite. Includes launch stand with pyramid-shaped exhaust gas deflector, placed underneath engine. Rocket, overall painted white, with alternate white and black fins; black stripe around middle and another black stripe, from top black stripe to bottom one.
Jupiter-C Rocket (Replica)
Cylindrical, lengthened Redstone missile body for carrying more fuel and smaller, shorter cylinder on top fitted into flared nosecap with much smaller cylinder on top, with blunt nose cone. The second, smaller cylinder is the vehicle's 2nd and 3rd stages. The smallest, uppermost cylinder is the Explorer 1 satellite. Includes launch stand with pyramid-shaped exhaust gas deflector, placed underneath engine. Rocket, overall painted white, with alternate white and black fins; black stripe around middle and another black stripe, from top black stripe to bottom one.
Display Status:
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.
This is a full-scale reproduction of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle built by the Reynolds Metals Company. It 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.
