Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5


Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 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.
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., 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 statistics

All launches before October 1958 operated by the United States Army. All launches since operated by NASA.
No.DateTime Launch vehiclePayload/missionResultRemarks
119 July 195608:45Jupiter-ASuborbital testFirst launch from LC-5.
220 September 195606:45Jupiter-CSuborbital test
31 March 195721:51PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital testMaiden flight of the PGM-19 Jupiter. Heating in tail section led to vehicle breakup 7 seconds after launch.
426 April 195720:12PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital testPropellant slosh led to vehicle breakup 93 seconds after launch. Flight considered a success.
531 May 195718:08PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital testFirst fully successful flight of the PGM-19 Jupiter and of a Western IRBM.
626 March 195817:38Juno IExplorer 3Part of the Explorer program, aiming to confirm findings studied by Explorer 1. First orbital launch and Juno I flight from LC-5.
717 May 195800:05PGM-11 RedstoneSuborbital test
826 July 195815:00Juno IExplorer 4Part of the Explorer program, aiming to study the Van Allen radiation belts and the magnetosphere.
924 August 195806:17Juno IExplorer 5Part of the Explorer program, aiming to study the Van Allen radiation belts and the magnetosphere. Mishap during staging led to loss of control and failure to reach orbit.
1023 October 195803:21Juno IBeacon 1Part of Project Beacon, a balloon satellite designed to study atmospheric density. Upper stages separated prematurely, leading to failure to reach orbit. Last flight of the Juno I.
116 December 195805:44Juno IIPioneer 3Part of the Pioneer program, aiming to study the Moon. Maiden flight of the Juno II. Circuit malfunction caused premature first stage cutoff, placing satellite on steep suborbital trajectory.
1222 January 195900:10PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital test
133 March 195905:10Juno IIPioneer 4Part of the Pioneer program, aiming to study the Moon. Maiden flight of the Juno II. First successful American mission to the Moon, and first American satellite to enter heliocentric orbit.
1414 May 195905:52PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital test
1516 July 195917:37Juno IIExplorer S-1Part of the Explorer program, aiming to study cosmic rays such as Lyman-alpha x-rays. Shorted diode led to control failure immediately after liftoff, causing range safety protocols 5 seconds after launch.
1627 August 195901:30PGM-19 JupiterSuborbital test
1713 October 195915:30Juno IIExplorer 7Part of the Explorer program, aiming to study cosmic rays such as Lyman-alpha x-rays. Reflight of Explorer S-1's objective. Final orbital launch from LC-5.
1821 November 196014:00Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone 1Maiden flight of the MRLV, designed to perform an uncrewed suborbital flight for Project Mercury. Redstone engine shutdown immediately after launch, settling back onto the pad, becoming known as the "four-inch flight".
1919 December 196016:15Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone 1AReflight of MR-1. First successful flight of the MRLV, reusing the capsule used in MR-1.
2031 January 196116:54Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone 2Carried chimpanzee Ham into space as a live rehearsal for a crewed flight. Ham became the first great ape to be put in space.
2124 March 196117:30Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone BDTest flight for the MRLV, carrying a boilerplate Mercury capsule. Developed by Wernher Von Braun to certify human rating.
225 May 196114:34Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone 3
First crewed flight from the United States, first crewed launch of Project Mercury, and first crewed launch from LC-5. Carried astronaut Alan Shepard on a suborbital trajectory, becoming the first American and second person into space.
2321 July 196112:20Mercury-Redstone Launch VehicleMercury-Redstone 4
Second crewed American spaceflight, carrying astronaut Gus Grissom into space. Emergency hatch procedures accidentally fired, causing capsule to sink and Grissom to almost drown. Last American suborbital spaceflight from a rocket until Blue Origin NS-16 in 2021 and most recent crewed suborbital launch from Cape Canaveral. Final launch from LC-5 before conversion into the Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum.