Jupiter C Orbital launch vehicle August 8th 1957 Launch

These are 1/72 scale decals for the Jupiter C launch vehicle as it appeared on 8 August 1957, during re-entry vehicle test flights conducted by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) at Cape Canaveral, Florida — a pivotal milestone in the American ballistic missile program led by Dr. Wernher von Braun, and a direct stepping stone to the launch of America's first satellite.

The Jupiter C was a three-stage research vehicle derived from the Redstone ballistic missile, with two upper stages of clustered solid-fuel Sergeant rockets added to achieve the high velocities needed to test nose cone re-entry vehicles at realistic speeds. Despite the similar name, the Jupiter C was not directly related to the PGM-19 Jupiter IRBM — the "Jupiter" in its name referred to the Jupiter IRBM program whose re-entry vehicle components it was designed to test, while its airframe was firmly rooted in the Redstone. The August 1957 flight was one of a series of Jupiter C missions that successfully recovered nose cone re-entry vehicles after ballistic trajectories — critical data for developing warheads that could survive the searing heat of atmospheric re-entry.

The Jupiter C holds a special place in space history: it was directly evolved into the Juno I launch vehicle by the addition of a fourth stage, and it was a Jupiter C — with that fourth stage live rather than ballasted — that carried Explorer 1 into orbit on 31 January 1958, making it America's first satellite. The August 1957 launch came just weeks before Sputnik 1 shocked the world in October 1957, at a moment when von Braun's team was tantalizingly close to orbital capability but had not yet received authorization to attempt a satellite launch.

A fascinating and historically rich subject from the critical months before the Space Age began. Please allow some time for decal printing and shipping.