Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5
Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida used for various Redstone and Jupiter launches.
![]() Mercury-Redstone 1 at LC-5 in 1960 | |||||||||||||
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Launch site | Cape Canaveral Space Force Station | ||||||||||||
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Standort | 28°26′22″N 80°34′24″W / 28.43944°N 80.57333°W | ||||||||||||
Time zone | UTC−05:00 (EST) | ||||||||||||
• Summer (DST) | UTC−04:00 (EDT) | ||||||||||||
Short name | LC-5 | ||||||||||||
Operator | United States Space Force | ||||||||||||
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It is most well known as the launch site for NASA's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, which made Alan Shepard the first American in space. It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom's July, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 4 flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1 pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A, and the January, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 2 with a chimpanzee, Ham, aboard, also used LC-5.
A total of 23 launches were conducted from LC-5: one Jupiter-A, six Jupiter IRBMs, one Jupiter-C, four Juno Is, four Juno IIs and seven Redstones. The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.[1]
LC-5 is located next to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum which is located at LC-26. The original launch consoles and computers are on display in the LC-5 blockhouse. As of 2020[update], a tour of the museum can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's "Cape Canaveral: Early Space Tour". One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.
Launch chronology
edit- July 19, 1956: Jupiter-A CC-13
- September 20, 1956: Jupiter-C RS-27
- March 1, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1A
- April 26, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1B
- May 31, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1
- March 26, 1958: Juno I RS-24 (Explorer 3)
- May 17, 1958: Redstone RS-1002
- July 26, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-44 (Explorer 4)
- August 24, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-47 (Explorer 5)
- October 23, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-49 (Beacon 1)
- December 6, 1958: Juno II AM-11 (Pioneer 3)
- January 22, 1959: Jupiter IRBM CM-21
- March 3, 1959: Juno II AM-14 (Pioneer 4)
- May 14, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-17
- July 16, 1959: Juno II AM-16 (Explorer S-1, failed)
- August 27, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-19
- October 13, 1959: Juno II AM-19A (Explorer 7)
- November 21, 1960: Redstone MRLV-1 (MR-1)
- December 19, 1960: Redstone MRLV-3 (MR-1A)
- January 31, 1961: Redstone MRLV-2 (MR-2)
- March 24, 1961: Redstone MRLV-5 (MR-BD)
- May 5, 1961: Redstone MRLV-7 (MR-3)
- July 21, 1961: Redstone MRLV-8 (MR-4)
Gallery
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Preparations on May 16, 1958 for the first PGM-11 Redstone launch on May 17 conducted by US Army troops
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Launch of Liberty Bell 7 (MR-4)
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Blockhouse (2010)
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Firing button (2010)
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LC-5 with display Redstone (2010)
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LC 5&6 blockhouse (now museum)
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-14. Retrieved 2009-04-14.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)