Redstone
Forerunner of the ICBM
Explosive Power
3.75 megatons
Hiroshima Equivalent Factor
250x
Dimensions
69.3 ft. x 5.83 inches
Weight
61,207 lbs.
Range
201 miles
Year(s)
1958–1964
Purpose
A modern version of the Nazi V2 rocket
About the Redstone
Forthcoming…
Gallery
Nukemap
NUKEMAP is a web-based mapping program that attempts to give the user a sense of the destructive power of nuclear weapons. It was created by Alex Wellerstein, a historian specializing in nuclear weapons (see his book on nuclear secrecy and his blog on nuclear weapons). The screenshot below shows the NUKEMAP output for this particular weapon. Click on the map to customize settings.
Videos
Click on the Play button and then the Full screen brackets on the lower right to view each video. Click on the Exit full screen cross at lower right (the “X” on a mobile device) to return.
Further Reading
- Wikipedia, Astronautix, Missilery.info
- Jim Ryan, who worked with Redstone missiles while in the Army, has built a web page telling of his first-hand experiences and well as providing extensive links related to the Redstone.
- A profile of the 40th Artillery Group (Redstone) and the 46th Artillery Group (Redstone)–the pages features extensive commentary from readers who worked with the missile.
- AMCOM has the Redstone development timeline.
- A detailed technical page on the Redstone, including cutaway drawings and links to subcomponents.
- John Uri at NASA tells of the first Redstone launch (from Cape Canaveral) and highlights the missile’s importance in space missile development.
- NASA’s own web page looks at the Mercury-Redstone space launch missile, a variant of the ICBM.
- “The History of the Redstone Missile System” by John W. Bullard, published by the Army Missile Command in 1965.
- “Old Reliable: The Story of the Redstone,” is a non-technical history of the Redstone by Andrew J. LePage.
- The Redstone Arsenal still exists and has its own newspaper, the Redstone Rocket.
- There’s a strange phenomenon where military museums, in many cases, will fail to mention on their informational signs that the weapon on display is a nuclear weapon. Here is that same phenomenon in this 1962 article in Stars and Stripes on the Redstone.