92-Foot-Tall Mercury Redstone Rocket Replica - Concord NH
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nomadwillie
N 43° 13.438 W 071° 31.979
19T E 294288 N 4788801
Alan Shepard, a New Hampshire native, became the first American to fly into outer space on May 5, 1961. Nearly fifty years later, in 2009, the state erected a life-size perfect replica of the Redstone rocket that launched Shepard skyward.
Waymark Code: WMW6CF
Location: New Hampshire, United States
Date Posted: 07/16/2017
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Alan Shepard, a New Hampshire native, became the first American to fly into outer space on May 5, 1961. Nearly fifty years later, in 2009, the state erected a life-size perfect replica of the Redstone rocket that launched Shepard skyward. Explanatory signs around the rocket reveal that the Redstone was in fact just a nuclear ballistic missile, barely six feet wide, with a space capsule stuck on top. Shepard was a brave man, and a little nuts.
The rocket stands in front of the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center, an upscale planetarium. There's a little bronze bust of Shepard on the admission desk, but that's the extent of his personal glorification -- which is as he would have wanted it (Shepard was an intensely private man). And the rocket really was the star of those early Mercury flights.
The McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center is co-named for Christa McAuliffe, New Hampshire's other famous astronaut. Unfortunately, her spacecraft didn't perform as well as Alan's.
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