National Historic Landmark · geographical feature · Huntsville, Alabama

Redstone Test Stand

United States historic place in Huntsville, Alabama. Added to the National Register in 1976, and a National Historic Landmark.

National Historic LandmarkListed 1976
Cover Sheet - Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Rocket (Missile) Test Stand, Dodd Road, Huntsville, Madison County, AL HAER ALA,45-HUVI.V,7A- (sheet 1 of 7)Detail of Instrumentation and Control Tanks c 1959 HAER AL-129-A sheet 6 of 7East Elevation - Marshall Space Flight Center, Redstone Rocket (Missile) Test Stand, Dodd Road, Huntsville, Madison County, AL HAER ALA,45-HUVI.V,7A- (sheet 3 of 7)
Photos via Wikimedia Commons · 3 in the Commons category

What it is

Wikipedia · Redstone Test Stand

The Redstone Test Stand or Interim Test Stand was used to develop and test fire the Redstone missile, Jupiter-C sounding rocket, Juno I launch vehicle and Mercury-Redstone launch vehicle. It was declared an Alabama Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1979 and a National Historic Landmark in 1985. It is located at NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama on the Redstone Arsenal, designated Building 4665. The Redstone missile was the first missile to carry a detonated nuclear weapon. Jupiter-C launched to test components for the Jupiter missile. Juno I put the first American satellite Explorer 1 into orbit. Mercury Redstone carried the first American astronaut Alan Shepard into space. The Redstone earned the name "Old Reliable" because of this facility and the improvements it made possible.

Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

The record

National Register of Historic Places
Property typeStructure
AddressGeorge C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville vicinity, AL
CountyMadison County
ListedMay 13, 1976
Reference number76000341
Type of placegeographical feature
Contributing resources1 buildings, 2 structures

The nomination form, the document that argues why this place matters, is in the National Archives: Read the nomination ↗

Visiting

Access not on record
AddressGeorge C. Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
Coordinates34.63274, -86.66659 · Directions ↗
Nearest national park unitRussell Cave National Monument · 54 mi · on Park Atlas
Listing on the Register does not open the door. Unless a museum or park runs it, treat this as private property and see it from the sidewalk.

Explore

Why you would stay

Map

4 nearby listings

Reference

Exists because it is true

Sources

Location, dates, type and contributing counts come from the National Park Service's National Register spatial data. Construction date, architect, style, photograph and encyclopedia link come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, matched on reference number 76000341. Nothing here is transcribed by hand. The description under "What it is" is the opening of the Wikipedia article, CC BY-SA.