Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 5
| CCAFS LC-5 | |
|---|---|
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| Start of Mercury-Redstone 3 | |
| Coordinates | 28 ° 26 '22 " N , 80 ° 34' 24" W |
| Type | Orbital Launch Site |
| operator | US Air Force |
| Launch pads | 1 |
| Missiles | Redstone , Jupiter |
| First start | July 19, 1956 |
| Last start | July 21, 1961 |
| Total starts | 23 |
| status | inactive |
 
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Cape Canaveral AFS Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) is a disused launch pad of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Merritt Island , Cape Canaveral in Florida , USA . It was used for a total of 23 launches between 1956 and 1961, including 16 Redstone and seven Jupiter .
history
From November 21, 1960, the ballistic flights of the Mercury program with the Redstone rocket from Launch Complex 5 took place. The Mercury Atlas flights took off from Launch Complex 14 .
After the failure of Mercury-Redstone 1 on October 21, 1960, Mercury-Redstone 1A was successful on December 19, 1960. The chimpanzee "Ham" started with Mercury-Redstone 2 on January 21, 1961, and Mercury-Redstone 3 (Freedom 7) started on May 5, 1961 and brought Alan Shepard into space as the first American. Gus Grissom flew into space with Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) on July 21, 1961 from the LC-5 and landed after 15 minutes in the Atlantic, where he was recovered by the USS Randolph . This was also the last launch of LC-5.
Launch Complex 5 is currently in poor shape. All equipment that was needed for the start is in the "Blockhouse" and can be viewed. Today it is part of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum .
Start list
| date | Time ( UTC ) | Missile type | serial number | payload | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 19, 1956 | 08:45 | Jupiter A | CC-13 | ||
| 20th September 1956 | 06:45 | Jupiter C | RS-27 | ||
| March 1, 1957 | 21:51 | Jupiter IRBM | AM-1A | ||
| April 26, 1957 | 20:12 | Jupiter IRBM | AM-1B | ||
| May 31, 1957 | 18:08 | Jupiter IRBM | AM-1 | ||
| March 26, 1958 | 17:38 | Jupiter C | RS-24 | Explorer 3 | |
| 17th May 1958 | 00:05 | Redstone | RS-1002 | ||
| July 26, 1958 | 15:00 | Jupiter C | CC-44 | Explorer 4 | |
| August 24, 1958 | 06:17 | Jupiter C | CC-47 | Explorer 5 | Failure |
| October 23, 1958 | 03:21 | Jupiter C | CC-49 | Beacon 1 | Failure |
| December 6, 1958 | 05:44 | Juno II | AM-11 | Pioneer 3 | Failure by switching off the first stage prematurely |
| January 22, 1959 | 00:10 | Jupiter IRBM | CM-21 | ||
| March 3, 1959 | 05:10 | Juno II | AT THE 14TH | Pioneer 4 | First American spaceship to break away from the earth's gravitational field and to fly past the moon |
| May 14, 1959 | 05:52 | Jupiter IRBM | AM-17 | ||
| July 16, 1959 | 17:37 | Juno II | AT 16 | Explorer S-1 | Failure |
| August 27, 1959 | 01:30 | Jupiter IRBM | AT 19 | ||
| October 13, 1959 | 3:30 p.m. | Juno II | AM-19A | Explorer 7 | |
| November 21, 1960 | 14:00 | Redstone | MRLV-1 | Mercury Redstone 1 | Failure: the engine switched off after a second, the rocket rose a few centimeters. Mercury capsule was detached via the escape engine, recovered and later reused. |
| December 19, 1960 | 16:15 | Redstone | MRLV-3 | Mercury Redstone 1A | Repetition of the Mercury-Redstone 1 mission, this time successful. |
| January 31, 1961 | 16:54 | Redstone | MRLV-2 | Mercury Redstone 2 | Successful flight of the chimpanzee Ham in a Mercury capsule. |
| March 24, 1961 | 17:30 | Redstone | MRLV-5 | Mercury-Redstone BD | Last unmanned Mercury test flight. |
| May 5, 1961 | 14:34 | Redstone | MRLV-7 |
Mercury-Redstone 3 Freedom 7 |
First flight of an American ( Alan Shepard ) into space . |
| July 21, 1961 | 12:20 | Redstone | MRLV-8 |
Mercury-Redstone 4 Liberty Bell 7 |
Second flight of an American ( Gus Grissom ) into space. |
Web links
- Cape Canaveral LC5 in the Encyclopedia Astronautica (English)