Jupiter-C

Juno I predecessor RS-27

Mission Profile

The Jupiter-C (Juno I predecessor, RS-27) was a three-stage American test vehicle in the Redstone family, a modified Redstone missile with elongated propellant tanks and spin-stabilised upper stages used for reentry vehicle testing and later adapted to launch the first American satellite. Standing 21.2 m tall with a 1.8 m diameter and a liftoff mass of 29.1 tonnes, it generated 370 kN of first-stage thrust. First flying in September 1956, the Jupiter-C demonstrated the reentry vehicle technology that led directly to the Juno I configuration which launched Explorer 1 in January 1958.