Redstone (rocket family)

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Redstone rocket was developed in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. The Redstone family of rockets consisted of number of ballistic missiles, sounding rockets, and expendable launch vehicles used in 1950s and 1960s. 

The first rocket was PGM-11 Redstone, from which all farther variations were derived. The first launched in 1953 was short range surface to surface ballistic missile in active use from 1958 until 1964.  

Redstone No. CC-56, Cape Canaveral, Florida, 17 September 1958: Surface to surface missile

 Redstone was directly upgraded from the German V-2 rocket, developed mostly by German rocket engineers brought to US after the World War II. 

Jupiter-A was the first variant of Redstone, used mostly to test parts which was later used for medium range ballistic missile. 
Jupiter-C was a sounding rocket developed from Jupiter-A used for 3 suborbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957. I was used as test for reentry vehicles later used on the PGM-19 Jupiter. It was designed by US Army Ballistic Missile Agency under the direction of Wernher von Braun. 

 Juno I was 4 stage booster rocket which launched first US satellite, Explorer 1 (see article Explorer 1) in 1958. It was derived from Jupiter-C. It is sometimes confused with Juno II, which was derived from PGM-19 medium-range ballistic missile. Juno I consisted of Jupiter-C rocket with the fourth stage, which was fired after the third stage burnout to boost the payload and fourth stage to orbital speed 8 km/s. 

 Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle or simply Mercury Redstone used Redstone configuration from Jupiter-C for 6 suborbital launches. It was designed for the Project Mercury, and it was the first US manned space booster. It was used for 6 Mercury flights from 1960 to 1961.  
  • Mercury Redstone 1 aborted; rocket shut down due to electric fault during the liftoff
  • Mercure Redstone 1A successful unmanned flight, carried empty capsule
  • Mercury Redstone 2 carried the chimpanzee onboard named Ham
  • Mercury Redstone BD booster development - final test before the manned flight
  • Mercury Redstone 3 (Freedom 7) first American in space, Alan Shepard
  • Mercury Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) second American in space, Gus Grissom

Mercury Redstone 3 (left) 4 (right ) during the launch: A. Shepard, and G. Grissom
The 4 following Mercury manned spaceflights used the Atlas booster. The standard military Redstone lacked sufficient trust to lift Mercury capsule. Jupiter-C, modified Redstone with longer tanks, which could carry enough propellant, was used for the first stage for the Mercury Redstone version. Unfortunately, Army phased out Jupiter-C's engine, so it was necessary to choose another engine Rocketdyne A-7. 

 Saturn I and Saturn IB was derived from the Redstone. The first stage used 8 Rocketdyne H-1 engines. Saturn I was US first heavy lift space launcher. It lifted Pegasus satellites and it made a testing of Apollo Command and Service module aerodynamics in the launch phase. It served only shortly and only with NASA. It was replaced by the derivative Saturn IB, which had more powerful upper stage. 

Left: Saturn I launch (SA-1 The first Saturn I launched October 27, 1961), Right: 3 launch configuration AS-203 no spacecraft, AS-202 Command/Service Module, AS-204 rocket - the first test of the Apollo Lunar Module that was originally intended for Apollo 1
The Saturn IB was used for three manned Skylab (see article Skylab) flights and for one Apollo-Soyuz Test Project (see article Apollo-Soyuz Test Project) flight. First stage was powered by 8 Rocketdyne H-1 rocket engines burning RP-1 (rocket propellant) fuel with liquid oxygen.
Rocketdyne H-1 rocket engine
Sparta was 3 stage rocket. It launched Australia's first Earth satellite WRESAT (Weapons Research Establishment Satellite) on November 29, 1967. Sparta used a surplus US Redstone as a first stage, an Antares-2 as a second stage, and a BE-3 as a third stage. Spartas were launched from Woomera Test Range in Woomera, South Australia as a part of US-UK-Australia joint research program. The main objective of the program was to understand re-entry phenomena. 
The launch made Australia the seventh nation to have a satellite in the orbit and third nation to launch satellite from its own area. 
Redstone Sparta on the launch pad in Woomera

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