Stephen Schwartz: Today in 1957, a Chrysler Corporation Redstone short-range ballistic missile was erected inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal. From 1958-64, the Redstone was deployed in West Germany armed with the W39 3.8-Megaton warhead. In 1961, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom rode a Redstone variant into space.

Today in 1957, a Chrysler Corporation Redstone short-range ballistic missile was erected inside New York’s Grand Central Terminal. From 1958-64, the Redstone was deployed in West Germany armed with the W39 3.8-Megaton warhead. In 1961, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom rode a Redstone variant into space.

A British Pathé newsreel recorded the event and the reactions of awed onlookers, but made absolutely no mention of the Redstone’s original and primary nuclear-war mission, instead quipping that with its range and speed, “Maybe rockets like these are the long-awaited answer to a commuter’s prayer.”

Redstone Missile On Exhibition At Grand Central Station (1957)www.youtube.com Unused / unissued material -Title reads: "Missile Displayed In Grand Central". American voiceovered newsreel material.New York, United States of America (USA...

Among the reactions: “‘Stupendous,’ said a man in a sweaty T-shirt and a two-day beard. ‘It’s cockeyed. That’s what it is. It’s the reason we have high taxes and like that. It’s cockeyed. The whole world’s cockeyed. … ‘What’s the matter with kids nowadays? All they want is atom bombs and missiles.’”

On August 1, 1958, a Redstone rocket carried a W39 warhead almost 50 miles above Johnston Island in the North Pacific, where its detonation briefly turned night into day. Even at that distance, the thermal pulse was so intense that observers on the ground had to take shelter for a few moments.

Hardtack Teak outer space detonationwww.youtube.com Scientists scramble from the detonation of Hardtack TEAK. Teak was a 3.8 Megaton nuclear test detonated on August 1, 1958 nearly 50 miles above the earth an...

During the Cold War, US nuclear missiles were occasionally displayed at other public venues. Here, three women (models?) pose before a Minuteman I ICBM across the street from San Francisco City Hall during the Air Force Association’s convention in September 1960.

From the late 1950s until 1974 (when they were removed pending relocation to the new National Air and Space Museum), the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, displayed several ballistic missiles outside its Arts and Industries Building (left to right: Jupiter C, Vanguard, Polaris A1, Atlas).

nice stephen

Polaris A-3 in the black and white image, A-1 in the color image.

Memes is memes eh?

Named for the Redstone arsenal, which in turn was named for the literal preponderance of red stone and soil in Huntsville. Iron country.

That's going to leave a mark...

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