Military Wiki
in: Articles using infobox launch pad, Articles containing potentially dated statements from 2015, All articles containing potentially dated statements,
and 4 more

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5

Sign in to edit
Launch Complex 5
Mg-KSC-61C-181
Mercury-Redstone 1 at LC-5 in 1960
Launch site CCAFS
Location 28°26′22″N 80°34′24″W / 28.43944°N 80.57333°W / 28.43944; -80.57333Coordinates: 28°26′22″N 80°34′24″W / 28.43944°N 80.57333°W / 28.43944; -80.57333
Short name LC-5
Operator U.S. Air Force
Launch pad(s) One
Launch history
Status Demolished
Launches 23
First launch 19 July 1956
Last launch 21 July 1961
Associated
rockets		 Jupiter-A
Jupiter-C
PGM-19 Jupiter
Juno I
PGM-11 Redstone
Juno II
Redstone MRLV

Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida used for various Redstone and Jupiter launches.

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 Mercury-Redstone 4 flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1 pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A, and Mercury-Redstone 2, with 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 Air Force Space & Missile Museum. The original consoles used to launch the Mercury-Redstone rockets are on display in the blockhouse. As of 2015 a tour of the blockhouse (and the museum) can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's "Cape Canaveral: Then and Now" tour. One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.

Launch chronology[]

  • 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[]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ↑ http://www.astronautix.com/sites/capallc5.htm

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 5 and the edit history here.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.