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A picture tour highlighting the dozens of exhibits on display at theAir Force Space and Missile Museum
posted: 08:00 am ET
21 July 2000
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| Rocket Garden | 
The Air Force Space & Missile Museum is located on the property of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, at the site where America's first satellite went into orbit and first man went into space. Visitors can stroll this rocket garden and see more than 50 displays of rockets, missiles and other hardware in the open park. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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| Missile Pioneers | 
Guests of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum at Cape Canaveral enjoy learning about the historic rockets and missiles from the people who worked on them, such as museum volunteer Bob Whitney, who is standing in front of the gantry used to launch America's first satellite, Explorer 1, in 1958. SPACE.com image by Todd Halvorson. |
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| Inside Story | 
Protected by thick walls of cement and blastproof windows, the team who launched Explorer 1 did so from inside this blockhouse, which is part of the exhibits on display at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum. The control center still includes much of its original equipment and is known for its musty odor that some call the "smell of history." SPACE.com image by Todd Halvorson. |
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| Missile Defense | 
The U.S. Navy has been involved in launch operations at Cape Canaveral from the earliest days, testing hundreds of missiles through the years. Two versions of the Navy's Polaris nuclear missile can be seen at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum. The tall black and white rocket in the back of the image is an Army Jupiter missile, whose design legacy led to NASA's family of Saturn rockets. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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| Winged Wonders | 
Among the many rockets on display at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum are several winged vehicles that were tested at the Cape as a means to deliver bombs, usually nuclear, over short to medium ranges. Put into service in 1955, the Matador seen here was an early cruise missile whose propulsion came from a powerful jet engine sticking out of its tail. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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| Snark Infested | 
Another of the early cruise missile concepts was the Snark, which could be fired from a portable trailer to deliver its bomb hundreds of miles away. A pair of solid rocket motors helped get the missile into the air, but many of the missile tests failed and showered debris offshore into the Atlantic Ocean, prompting locals to dub the area as Snark-infested waters. The white rocket behind the Snark is a Thor missile, the parent of the Delta rocket, which is still launched today from the two launch pads seen in the distance. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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| Mercury Monument | 
At the south end of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum property is the launch site of America's first and second men into space: Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. A full-sized replica of a Mercury-Redstone rocket sits at the very spot the two astronauts lifted off from in May and July of 1961. In the foreground is the restored blockhouse where rocket pioneers like Wernher von Braun and Kurt Debus managed the launches. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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| Shuttle Ancestor | 
One of the most impressive exhibits of the Air Force Space & Missile Museum is this refurbished Navaho missile, which is on display to the public just outisde the south gate of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Known for testing advanced ideas, countdowns for Navaho launches were often scrubbed or aborted, leading folks to call the missile the "No Go Navaho." Still, many of those new ideas found use elsewhere. In fact, some of the basic design principles that are part of the Space Shuttle's main engines can trace its origins to the Navaho. SPACE.com image by Jim Banke. |
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