1957: To counter fears of Sputnik, the U.S. Army put a Redstone missile on display in NYC's Grand Central Station
When the Soviets launched Sputnik and took hold of the “high frontier” in 1957…Americans were worried. We were unable to match that feat until more than a year later. And by then, the Russians had engaged in more amazing space accomplishments.
To counter fears, the U.S. Army put a Redstone missile into Grand Central Station. Reports say that the missile was too tall, and that a hole was cut in the station’s ceiling to make the missile fit. But the pictures show the ceiling far above the standing missile. I don’t know what to make of that.
In any case, the U.S. did eventually use the (suborbital) missile for spaceflight—launching Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom into space aboard Mercury/Redstone vehicles in 1961.
Today, you can see Redstone missiles at a number of locations, including the California Science Center and Kennedy Space Center.
The second half of the newsreel below tells the story of the Redstone in Grand Central Station.
The rocket in question was a Redstone, the series that culminated in both orbiting America’s first satellite and putting Alan Sheppard & Gus Grissom in space (as suborbital flights).
However, the model in the photo is not one of NASA’s (manned) Mercury-Redstones, however, nor is it a Jupiter-C modified Redstone; it’s one of the orginal Army ballistic missiles.
The Jupiter-C series was itself modified into a 4-stage system called the Juno I, which is what JPL used to launch the Explorer satellite series (starting in Jan 1958).
(The MGM-5 Corporal missile, which JPL was also involved with, looks similar, but was strictly a guided missile for the Army, developed around the same time.)
A friend suggests that the hole in the ceiling was used to run a cable from the ceiling to the nosecone for stability. Hmm….
Are you sure?
Had some trouble getting all the facts on this strange and interesting story—but thought it was too good to ignore. Still, my sources say this is an early version of an Army Redstone…and it looks like a SSM-A14/M8/PGM-11 Redstone. See this picture: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Redstone_09.jpg
In any case, thanks!
Can’t be 100% sure — it was before I was born, so I wasn’t there! :^)
However, the nose cone, the “pinstripes”, and the marking pretty much establish it as the Army’s ballistic missile version of the Redstone, which was developed by the ABMA.
Knowing it was mid-1957 helps to narrow it down: Mercury-Redstone came later (NASA didn’t form until mid-1958). It’s not a Jupiter-C, as only 3 were made; two had already launched by July 1957, and the third was launched while this one was in GCS.
The Juno was developed after (from) the Jupiter-C; it and the Mercury-Redstone had upper stages (powered by JPL’s “Sergeant” solid-fuel rockets) mated to the Redstone first stage, and had very distinctive profiles as a result.
I believe it’s a PGM-11. Ironically, it was NOT part of our space program, but instead an ICBM designed to carry nuclear warheads to the Soviet Union. …But few people at the time knew that or understood. (Not that it made any difference given the reasons they displayed it.)
Also, it’s very understandable about getting the story together — it was a very convoluted path from Robert Goddard to John Glenn! Most people today don’t know much about the heritage of our manned space program — that it was literally lifted into place by nuclear missiles. :^)
Here’s another fun, but little-known story about “the early days”:
Wernher von Braun was chafing at the bit to be the first to loft a satellite into orbit, and his team was more than ready to put a forth stage on the Jupiter-C and “win the space race” ahead of Sputnik. But he wasn’t allowed to!
The reasons why make a very interesting story with repercusions that reached decades into the future…
America’s rocket program at the time was still under the aegis of the Army (this being pre-NASA days), and it was controlled by Army Major General John B. Medaris — who specifically forbade von Braun from launching a live 4th stage. Instead, they were forced to launch a concrete dummy and achieve only sub-orbital flights.
Medaris’ orders were given to intentionally allow the Soviet Union to win — for some very shrewd and well-thought-out reasons. It not only galvanized America from Congressional appropriations committess all the way to our elementary schools, but also set an important precedent regarding satellites overflying other countries. Airspace sovereignty was a touchy issue at the time. (Our U2 overflights were a blatant violation of Soviet airspace.)
America had one of our best-kept (and still little-known) secrets, the Corona spy satellite series, being readied for operation once the launch vehicles were ready. By allowing the Soviets to be first into orbit, they set the precedent of “legally” overflying other nations with devices outside the atmosphere. And that allowed the U.S. to follow with satellites carrying cameras that continued our espionage program without the political difficulties the U2 incident caused in 1960.
The rest of the story can be found here:
http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/it/2004/3/2004_3_44.shtml