space rocket centre

[Craig.]

some big ICBM's

this was difficult to get all in one shot

humvee with some big rockets:)

[ATI_7500]

ICBMs....*drool*

[RichieB16]

Awesome shots.  Is that a real Satrun V in the 2nd pic?  It doesn't look 360 feet tall-but its hard to tell-in the shot is why I'm asking.

[Craig.]

i believe it is. They are going through a huge money campaign to save it.

[RichieB16]

i believe it is. They are going through a huge money campaign to save it.

Well, I know a couple are still around-there were a few extras left over due to the cancellation of Apollo's 18 and 19 (and possibly 20-I don't know if a rocket was built for it, it was cancelled pretty early).  I know that one of them is in Houston at JSC, the other must be there.  I also have read that the one at JSC is also involved in the restoration campaign (I think its in worse shape).

[Hagar]

I'm sure I saw a Saturn V at Cape Canaveral when I visited some years ago. I have photos somewhere. It was laying on its side in sections.

Not that I know of such things but surely at least some of these are space launch vehicles, not ICBMs. I would think there's a slight but important difference, to the crew anyway.

[RichieB16]

Yeah Hagar's right.  I can see 3 rockets which are in a manned spaceflight configuration-not ICBMs.  

In the first pic, the tall rocket to the left is a Saturn 1B which was used during the early Apollo missions (only 1 manned during Apollo) to test the capsule in earth orbit (before the moon missions); later it the Saturn 1B was manned 3 times during the Skylab program and one more time for ASTP.  The Satrurn 1B was built specifically for manned space flight, it was never used as an ICBM.

In the same pic, the rocket towards the right with the black and white vertical stipes near the top is a Redstone rocket-which was originally an ICBM.  This particular Redstone is in the Mercury Redstone configuration which was the first rocket that put an American into space in 1961, it was manned twice.

The rocket in the 2nd pic (the tall one) is a Saturn V -once again built specfically for manned operation.  This rocket, the second largest ever built, was built to fly to the moon.  They were launched a total of 13 times (12 during Apollo-10 were manned, and 1 during Skylab).  

It looks like all of the others are in ICBM configuration.

[Rifleman]

If I recall correctly, I think Huntsville is where Werner Von Braun did the majority of his work on the Saturn family of launch boosters ?........very instrumental in the entire plan which was implemented for the Lunar Landing mission concept.........

[Craig.]

correct ken, theres a whole exhibit with the pictures of the german scientists and names included who were at the facility. The faces were blanked out though. At least 3 of those standing rockets were used as ICBM's i believe some of them were converted from or to passenger carrying rockets. I didnt want to stick around to long and read the info as there were a few wasps flying in and out of them possibly indicating a nest.
If you look closely you can see the tail of the V1 in a yellow paint scheme. I tried to get a picture of this but it came out blurred and i didnt check it out before i left
As a word of advice. If you goto this place, its a good visit but alot of the indoor exhibits are aimed at younger visitors so it may not be a full day out.