Jupiter-C

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Part of the Redstone rocket family

title: "Jupiter-C" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1956-in-spaceflight", "sounding-rockets-of-the-united-states", "space-launch-vehicles-of-the-united-states", "redstone-(rocket-family)"] description: "Part of the Redstone rocket family" topic_path: "geography/united-states" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter-C" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Part of the Redstone rocket family ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rocket"]

Field	Value
image	JupiterC sketch.jpg
caption	Jupiter-C diagram
name	Jupiter-C
function	Sounding rocket
manufacturer	Chrysler for the ABMA
country-origin	United States
height	69.9 ft
diameter	5.8 ft
mass	64,000 lb
stages	3
location	Sub-orbital
kilos	11 kg
status	Retired
sites	LC-5 and 6, Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida
launches	3 (all suborbital)
success	1 (suborbital)
fail	1 (suborbital)
partial	1 (suborbital)
first	September 20, 1956
last	August 8, 1957
type	stage
stageno	First
name	Redstone (stretched)
engines	1 North American Aviation (Rocketdyne) 75-110-A-7
thrust	42439 kgf
SI	235 isp
burntime	155 s
fuel	LOX/Hydyne
type	stage
stageno	Second
name	Sergeant cluster
engines	11 Solid
solid	yes
thrust	7480 kgf
SI	214 isp
burntime	6 s
type	stage
stageno	Third
name	Sergeant cluster
engines	3 Solid
solid	yes
thrust	2040 kgf
SI	214 isp
burntime	6 s
::

The Jupiter-C was an American research and development vehicle developed from the Jupiter-A. Jupiter-C was used for three uncrewed sub-orbital spaceflights in 1956 and 1957 to test re-entry nosecones that were later to be deployed on the more advanced PGM-19 Jupiter mobile missile. The recovered nosecone was displayed in the Oval Office as part of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's televised speech on November 7, 1957.

A member of the Redstone rocket family, Jupiter-C was designed by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA), under the direction of Wernher von Braun. Three Jupiter-C flights were made. These were followed by satellite launches with the vehicle designated as Juno I (see Juno I below or the Juno I article). All were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Proj_orbiter_17mar54_dc_01.jpg" caption="Meeting of the Project Orbiter Committee on 17 March 1955"] ::

Description

Each vehicle consisted of a modified Redstone ballistic missile with two solid-propellant upper stages.

The tanks of the Redstone were lengthened by 8 ft (2.4 m) to provide additional propellant. The instrument compartment was also smaller and lighter than the Redstone's. The second and third stages were clustered in a "tub" atop the vehicle.

The second stage was an outer ring of eleven scaled-down Sergeant rocket engines; the third stage was a cluster of three scaled-down Sergeant rockets grouped within. These were held in position by bulkheads and rings and surrounded by a cylindrical outer shell. The webbed base plate of the shell rested on a ball bearing shaft mounted on the first-stage instrument section. Two electric motors spun in the tub at a rate varying from 450 to 750 rpm to compensate for thrust imbalance when the clustered motors fired. The rate of spin was varied by a programmer so that it did not couple with the changing resonance frequency of the first stage during flight.

The upper-stage tub was visibly spun-up before launch. During first-stage flight, the vehicle was guided by a gyro-controlled autopilot controlling both air-vanes and jet vanes on the first stage by means of servos. Following a vertical launch from a simple steel table, the vehicle was programmed so that it was traveling at an angle of 40 degrees from the horizontal at burnout of the first stage, which occurred 157 seconds after launch.

At first-stage burnout, explosive bolts fired and springs separated the instrument section from the first-stage tankage. The instrument section and the spinning tub were slowly tipped to a horizontal position by means of four air jets located at the base of the instrument section. When the apex of the vertical flight occurred after a coasting flight of about 247 seconds, a radio signal from the ground ignited the eleven-rocket cluster of the second stage, separating the tub from the instrument section. The third stage then fired to raise the apogee. Through this system, designed by Wernher von Braun in 1956 for his proposed Project Orbiter, the Jupiter-C obviated the need for a guidance system in the upper stages.

Encrypted serial number

The Jupiter-C was part of the IRBM project, and the sequence of manufacture of the rockets (which are not necessarily launched in order, and may be uprated as solutions to technical problems are worked out in tests) was considered a military secret. So the designation painted on the sides of the rocket was not a serial number in clear text, but employed a simple transformation cypher that the staff would be sure not to forget. The key was taken from the name of the design and test base: Huntsville, Alabama, giving HUNTSVILE, with duplicated letters dropped: H was used for 1, U for 2, ..., E for 9 and X for 0. For example, the Jupiter-C / Juno I modified to launch Explorer 1 had "UE" painted on the side, indicating it was S/N 29 (U→2, E→9).

General characteristics

Weight as configured for Explorer 1 launch, loaded/empty
- Overall, takeoff: 64,000 lb (29,000 kg)/10,230 lb (4640 kg)
- Stage 1 62,700 lb (28,400 kg)/9,600 lb (4,400 kg)
- Stage 2 1,020 lb (460 kg)/490 lb (220 kg)
- Stage 3 280 lb (130 kg)/140 lb (64 kg)
Propulsion
- Stage 1: Rocketdyne A-7 engine
  - Thrust, 83,000 lbf (370 kN)
  - burning time, 155 s
  - specific impulse, 235 s (2.30 kN·s/kg)
  - propellants, liquid oxygen, as oxidizer, and alcohol as fuel
  - propellant feed, turbopump type
  - turbopump drive, 90% hydrogen peroxide decomposed by catalyst bed to produce steam
- Stage 2: Eleven JPL scaled-down Baby Sergeant rockets
  - Thrust, 16,500 lbf (73 kN)
  - burning time, 6.5 s
  - specific impulse, 220 s (2.16 kN·s/kg)
  - propellant, polysulfide-aluminum and ammonium perchlorate (solid propellant)
- Stage 3: Three JPL scaled-down Baby Sergeant rockets
  - Thrust, 4,500 lbf (24 kN)
  - burning time, 6.5 s
  - specific impulse, 235 s (2.30 kN·s/kg)
  - propellant, same as for Stage 2

Flight history

Three Jupiter-C flights were made between 1956 and 1957. These were followed by satellite launches with the vehicle designated as Juno I. All were launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

::data[format=table title="Jupiter-C flights"]

Flight No.	Date	Rocket	Launch site	Payload	Outcome	Comments	1	2	3
September 20, 1956	Jupiter-C RS-27 (UI)	LC-5	Microlock Beacon	39.2 kg	Altitude of 1,100 km, speed of 7 km/s, and range of 5,300 km.
May 15, 1957	Jupiter-C RS-34 (NT)	LC-6	Ablative nose cone	140 kg	Altitude of 560 km and range of 1,100 km.
August 8, 1957	Jupiter-C RS-40 (TX)	LC-6	1/3-scale Jupiter nose cone	23 kg	title=The United States Army Redstone Arsenal Historical Information	url=https://history.redstone.army.mil/space-significant.html	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250523044801/https://history.redstone.army.mil/space-significant.html	archive-date=2025-05-23	access-date=2025-12-03
::

Derivatives

Juno I

Main article: Juno I

The Juno I was a satellite launch vehicle based on the Jupiter-C, but with the addition of a fourth stage, atop the "tub" of the third stage and the use of Hydyne as fuel. The Juno name derived from Von Braun wishing to make the satellite launch appear as peaceable as the Vanguard rocket, which was not a weapon, but was developed from a weather study rocket, the Viking. Since the Juno I was the same height as the Jupiter-C (21.2 meters), with the added fourth stage being hidden inside the shell, this vehicle which successfully launched the first orbital satellite of the United States is often incorrectly referred to as a Jupiter-C.

Gallery

On display

Jupiter-C displays:

US Space and Rocket Center, Huntsville, Alabama, with Explorer 1 mock-up
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama, with Explorer 1 mock-up
Petal, Mississippi (formerly at John C. Stennis Space Center's StenniSphere, now INFINITY Science Center, not publicly visible)

References

"Redstone Arsenal Historical Information – 1957". United States Army.
"Redstone Arsenal Historical Information – Jupiter". United States Army.
"Rockets and Missiles".
Yanek Mieczkowski, 'Cheerleader in Chief, in Eisenhower’s Sputnik Moment: The Race for Space and World Prestige, pp. 105–106.
"Redstone Arsenal Historical Information – Redstone Rocket". United States Army.
"Redstone Arsenal Historical Information – Explorer I". United States Army.
"ABMA Juno I". Designation-systems.net.
Juno V Space Vehicle Development Program Report No. DSP-TM-10-58, NASA, October, 1958.
Juno V Space Vehicle Development Program Status Report, DSP-TM-11-58, NASA, November, 1958.
"Rockets and Missiles / Jupiter C Fact Sheet".
"SP-4402 Origins of NASA Names".
"Jupiter-C".
(27 July 1962). "History of the Jupiter missile system". U. S. Army Ordnance Missile Command.
"The United States Army {{!}} Redstone Arsenal Historical Information".
"Redstone Rockets and Missiles {{!}} Historic Spacecraft".
"Jupiter-C".
(11 April 2014). "This Jupiter-C Rocket Sits Alongside Mr...".

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