Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5

Launch Complex 5
	Mercury-Redstone 1 at LC-5 in 1960
Launch site	Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Location	28°26′22″N 80°34′24″W / 28.43944°N 80.57333°W
Time zone	UTC−05:00 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−04:00 (EDT)
Short name	LC-5
Operator	United States Space Force
Status
Launch history
Status	Demolished
Launches	23
First launch	19 July 1956
Last launch	21 July 1961
Associated; rockets	Jupiter-A; Jupiter-C; PGM-19 Jupiter; Juno I; PGM-11 Redstone; Juno II; Redstone MRLV

Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5 (LC-5) was a launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida used for various Redstone and Jupiter launches.

It is most well known as the launch site for NASA's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, which made Alan Shepard the first American in space. It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom's July, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 4 flight. The Mercury-Redstone 1 pad abort, Mercury-Redstone 1A, and the January, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 2 with a chimpanzee, Ham, aboard, also used LC-5.

A total of 23 launches were conducted from LC-5: one Jupiter-A, six Jupiter IRBMs, one Jupiter-C, four Juno Is, four Juno IIs and seven Redstones. The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.^[1]

LC-5 is located next to the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum which is located at LC-26. The original launch consoles and computers are on display in the LC-5 blockhouse. As of 2020^[update], a tour of the museum can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's "Cape Canaveral: Early Space Tour". One tour is offered daily, so the number of visitors is limited by the size of the tour.

Launch chronology

July 19, 1956: Jupiter-A CC-13
September 20, 1956: Jupiter-C RS-27
March 1, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1A
April 26, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1B
May 31, 1957: Jupiter IRBM AM-1
March 26, 1958: Juno I RS-24 (Explorer 3)
May 17, 1958: Redstone RS-1002
July 26, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-44 (Explorer 4)
August 24, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-47 (Explorer 5)
October 23, 1958: Juno I RS/CC-49 (Beacon 1)
December 6, 1958: Juno II AM-11 (Pioneer 3)
January 22, 1959: Jupiter IRBM CM-21
March 3, 1959: Juno II AM-14 (Pioneer 4)
May 14, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-17
July 16, 1959: Juno II AM-16 (Explorer S-1, failed)
August 27, 1959: Jupiter IRBM AM-19
October 13, 1959: Juno II AM-19A (Explorer 7)
November 21, 1960: Redstone MRLV-1 (MR-1)
December 19, 1960: Redstone MRLV-3 (MR-1A)
January 31, 1961: Redstone MRLV-2 (MR-2)
March 24, 1961: Redstone MRLV-5 (MR-BD)
May 5, 1961: Redstone MRLV-7 (MR-3)
July 21, 1961: Redstone MRLV-8 (MR-4)

Gallery

Preparations on May 16, 1958 for the first PGM-11 Redstone launch on May 17 conducted by US Army troops
Launch of Liberty Bell 7 (MR-4)
Blockhouse (2010)
Firing button (2010)
LC-5 with display Redstone (2010)
LC 5&6 blockhouse (now museum)