The Redstone Test Stand or Interim Test Stand was used to develop and test fire the Redstone missile, Jupiter-C sounding rocket, Juno I launch vehicle and Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. It was declared an Alabama Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1979 and a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It is located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama on the Redstone Arsenal, designated Building 4665. The Redstone missile was the first missile to carry a detonated nuclear weapon. Jupiter-C launched to test components for the Jupiter missile. Juno I put the first American satellite Explorer 1 into orbit. Mercury Redstone carried the first American astronaut Alan Shepard into space. The Redstone earned the name "Old Reliable" because of this facility and the improvements it made possible. The Interim Test Stand was built in 1953 by Dr. Wernher von Braun's team for a mere US$25,000 (equivalent to $300,840 in 2025) out of materials salvaged from the Redstone Arsenal. In 1957 the permanent test facility called the Static Test Tower was finally finished, but the Army decided to continue operations at the Interim Test Stand rather than move. From 1953 to 1961, 362 static rocket tests were conducted there, including 200 that led directly to improvements in the Redstone rocket for the Mercury crewed flight program. Adapted over the years, it never experienced the growth in size and cost that typified test stands in general, remaining a testament to the engineering ingenuity of the rocket pioneers.
Background Liquid-propellant rocket development has always proceeded in three steps:
Engine testing Static rocket testing Test launches First, prototype engines are tested in a Rocket engine test facility, where the most promising designs are refined during a period of extensive testing. After an engine has been proven, the complete rocket is assembled. In this second step, the rocket is anchored to a static test stand. With the rocket held down, engineers run the engine at full power and refine the system. The test launch is third, when the missile is fired into the sky. Wernher von Braun and his team used this process to develop the V-2 or A4 missile in Germany during WWII. Von Braun and members of his team decided to surrender to the United States military to ensure they were not captured by the advancing Soviets or shot by the Nazis to prevent their capture. They came to the United States via Operation Paperclip. The Army first assigned the Germans to teach German missile technology, assist with the launching of captured V-2's, and continue rocket research as part of the Hermes project at Fort Bliss, Texas and White Sands Proving Grounds On April 15, 1950, the Army consolidated their far-flung guided missile and rocket research and development efforts into the Ordnance Guided Missile Center (OGMC) at Redstone Arsenal. The Army bought the former WWII munitions facility from the Army Chemical Corps. That summer and fall, members of the German rocket team moved from Fort Bliss to Huntsville. They conducted a preliminary study for proposed 500-mile (800 km) range missiles and began developing one, called Hermes C-1. The study envisioned warhead payloads of 1,500 and 3,000 pounds (680 and 1,360 kg), with the first test launch in 20 months. Cold War tensions escalated by the Korean War drove the payload up to a 6,900-pound (3,100 kg) atomic bomb with a reduced range. The system with its new specifications took the name Redstone, and had to be highly reliable, accurate, and quickly produced, priority 1A. The development program for the Redstone began in earnest on May 1, 1951. Separate from the missile development program, another budget line item was to bear the cost of constructing facilities for research and development at Redstone Arsenal because those facilities could also be used for other projects. However, the construction of facilities was not funded.
Early development, 1952–1955
The first twelve missiles were built at Redstone Arsenal. Assembly of the first Redstone began in the fall of 1952. Engineers needed a propulsion test stand to improve the missile, but they were not allowed to spend research and development funds on constructing facilities even for a cause vital to national security. Rather than wait for funding to go through the two-year Congressional appropriation process, then wait further for construction, Fritz A. Vandersee designed an interim test stand for $25,000, the maximum amount allowed. The large concrete foundation cost nearly all of the money. On this base, welders built a small stand with metal salvaged from around the arsenal. Three railroad tank cars that had been used to transport chemicals at the arsenal during the war were cleaned, modified, and buried 300 feet (91 m) away to serve as control and observation bunkers. To view the firings, the tanks also contain two periscopes believed to have been from two surplus Army tanks. When workers assembled the first Redstone missile at Redstone Arsenal in spring of 1953, the Redstone Interim Test Stand stood ready. A crane hoisted the missile (without the warhead) onto the stand and placed a frame atop the missile. Cables were attached to the frame to steady the missile. After extensive tests, workers fueled the missile and fired the engine for tests lasting no more than 15 seconds. After several successful test runs, the missile went to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for the test flight. Launches provided valuable information on the guidance system, but most improvements on the propulsion system came from lessons learned at the Interim Test Stand, where engineers could evaluate the internal workings of the propulsion system while it was firmly anchored to the ground. A total of fourteen tests were performed with the first four missiles.
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