This is the Complex 26, Pad B gantry: one of the sights at the Air Force Space & Missile
Museum. On January 31, 1958, America's first satellite was launched from Pad A
at this Complex, using a rocket and gantry that looked just like the ones here. The
30 pound Explorer I satellite was placed in orbit by a Jupiter-C rocket. The Jupiter-C was a
modified Redstone (the same rocket which would later be used in the Mercury program).
The gantry shown here is mobile; prior to launch, it was
moved away from the vehicle on rails. The vehicle shown in the picture is a Redstone rocket.
Roughly 400 feet away, northwest of this gantry, is the blockhouse.
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