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Some cities have skylines. Huntsville, Alabama, has a “space line.” Or maybe it’s happened again with the restoration of “Rocket Row” at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. On Thursday (July 18), a ribbon-cutting ceremony was held at the center’s Rocket Park to celebrate the first phase of the return of its historic boosters. All five historic rockets are back on their feet after being taken down for off-site restoration in 2018.
“These historic artifacts have welcomed millions of visitors and served as tangible symbols of humanity’s journey into space,” said Kimberly Robinson, CEO and executive director of the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. “Originally designed for active space missions shortly after their assembly, these rockets have stood proudly on display for more than five decades, withstanding the passage of time and the elements.”
“But the years have finally taken their toll,” he said, “and critical restoration is needed to preserve these priceless artifacts for future generations.”
The founder of a cloud computing company and father of a Space Camp participant at the rocket center heard about the rocket’s plight and donated $2 million to the effort. “Fred [Luddy] We saw the condition of our historical rockets and were worried.
“He generously offered a major gift that began the restoration of Rocket Row, and we gratefully accepted,” Robinson said. “We are so grateful for his giving heart. A heart that led him to help our little center and keep the legacy of these rockets alive for generations to come.”
Visitors to the center will soon be able to tour the newly remodeled and expanded Rocket Park, which includes the U.S. Army Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter-C, Juno II and Mercury-Redstone rockets. Installed before the museum opened in 1970, the five Chrysler-built vehicles represent the Redstone family of rockets that led to the development of the Saturn I and eventually the Saturn V, which launched NASA’s Apollo astronauts to the moon.
The dedication ceremony comes two days after the 55th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11, the first lunar landing mission with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Rocket Row also features an authentic Saturn I that has been restored on-site. Nearby, a replica Saturn V sits outside the Davidson Center for Space Exploration, home to one of the three moon rockets still in existence.
Brooks Moore, a member of the U.S. Army’s rocket development team and a longtime mentor at the rocket center, drew on his personal history to advise on the redesign of Rocket Row. He died in April at the age of 97.
“I wish he could be here today to celebrate with us,” Robinson said. “I am so happy that Brooks’ instructions are now cast in steel and concrete.”
Cosmos Aerospace in Cullman has done restoration work on rockets, including repairs and repainting. The Juno II, for example, showcases the design of the 1959 rocket that launched Pioneer 4, the first U.S. probe to escape Earth’s gravity and pass by the moon before entering heliocentric orbit.
The Mercury-Redstone rocket on display was restored to the same white and black markings it had when it “flew” on November 21, 1960. The booster was designed to launch an uncrewed Mercury capsule on a suborbital flight, but it shut down and settled back onto the launch pad after rising only four inches above the ground (the capsule then ignited the escape tower and was jettisoned).
A new addition to Rocket Park is the nacelle of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) core stage pathfinder, an engineering simulator built to match the size, weight and center of gravity of the flight hardware. The pathfinder was used at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and other NASA centers in 2019 to conduct fit checks and practice using the real core stages that will next fly astronauts to the moon.
“This latest acquisition and exhibition reminds us that we are still on a journey of discovery,” Robinson said.
Work needs to be completed to install four mass simulators representing the RS-25 rocket engines of the core stage.
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When completed, the Rocket Park expansion will include a new amphitheater and greener, more guest-friendly spaces for educational experiences and community events. A key feature will be the Marshall Retirees Association’s Space Exploration Wall of Honor. The memorial will include the names of more than 22,000 local men and women who have supported space exploration at Marshall Space Flight Center or at companies working with NASA in the Huntsville area.
The final element of the rocket center’s “space pipeline,” the space shuttle Pathfinder, is expected to be ready in a few months after its own restoration. Pathfinder was the original mock-up of NASA’s post-Apollo winged orbiter and was used for facility fit checks. When ready, it will be displayed again atop an external tank test article and prototype solid rocket boosters, forming one of only two complete shuttle stacks in the world.
The U.S. Space and Rocket Center, an affiliate of the Smithsonian, is the official visitor center for NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and home to U.S. Space Camp.
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