jupiter_c_in_flight.jpg
 
Jupiter C In Flight
[108/127]
 Title:
Jupiter C In Flight

Catalog Number:
SF-003

Original:
Digital

Caption:
On September 20, 1956 more than a year before the Russian launch of Sputnik 1 the world's first satellite, the first Jupiter C rocket was successfully flown carrying a sand-filled dummy fourth stage in place of a live satellite. The famous German rocket scientist and designer of the rocket Dr. Wernher von Braun was deigned permission to launch a satellite because the rocket was a military rocket and the USA was committed to the Vanguard project.

The four-stage Jupiter-C vehicle is a modified battlefield Redstone missile topped by a cluster of scale Sergeant solid-fuel rockets. The third stage nests inside the second stage. The spin bucket, which houses the solid-fuel stages, is started to rotate on the ground before lift-off. The spinning not only serves to stabilize the stages, but also cancels out any possible inequalities in the thrust of the Sergeants.
 

[Saturn]
juno_2_lift-off.jpg