Explore Original Rockets & Replicas at the Kennedy Space Center Rocket Garden

The Juno I rocket launched Explorer I, the US’ first satellite, into orbit on 31st January 1958, which eventually led to the establishment of the National Aeronautic Space Administration on 1st October later that year.

Height: 21.7 meters

Thrust: 83,000 pounds

Delta was used to facilitate communication technologies and launch a Mylar balloon called Echo into orbit in 1960. Echo helped the first live television signal to cross the ocean, writing a new chapter in global communication advancement.

Height: 27 meters

Thrust: 152,000 pounds

The first launch vehicle to take a crew, Mercury-Redstone, was used to carry Ham, the chimpanzee into space to test spacecraft life support systems in 1961. Later that year, Alan Shepherd launched on a Mercury-Redstone rocket making him the first American to go into space.

Height: 25.3 meters

Thrust: 78,000 pounds

On 20th February 1960, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth after being launched on a Mercury-Atlas rocket. He also proved that humans could work in a microgravity environment.

Height: 29 meters

Thrust: 360,000 pounds

Atlas-Agena launched 8 missions of the Ranger program collecting over 11,000 detailed pictures of the Moon including close-up images of where the Apollo 11 spacecraft would land on the lunar surface.

Height: 32.1 meters

Thrust: 366,213 pounds

An intercontinental ballistic missile designed to deliver nuclear weapons across the ocean, Gemini-Titan II was a reliable rocket used to launch Gemini missions in 1965 and 1966. However, it was never used for military actions.

Height: 32.9 meters

Thrust: 430,000 pounds

The Juno II rocket was sent toward the Moon to capture images including data on radiation and space objects. Its findings allowed NASA to develop more powerful rockets to carry out 33 uncrewed missions to the Moon.

Height: 23.4 meters

Thrust: 150,000 pounds

The Saturn 1B rocket launched Apollo 7, the first crewed mission of the Apollo program, and was also used to test early hardware for the missions that followed. Later, it was used to launch three missions to the Skylab space station and is now the only intact and flight-configured Saturn 1B in existence.

Height: 68 meters

Thrust: 1,600,000 pounds