This dual launch pad complex was constructed for the U.S. Army's Redstone and Jupiter missile programs.Construction started in 1956, and both pads were occupied in May 1957. Pads 26A and 26B supported their first Jupiter launches on 28 August 1957 and 22 October 1957 respectively. At least 36 Redstone, Jupiter, Jupiter C and Juno II launches were conducted from Complex 26 before the site was deactivated in 1964. On 20 November 1964, the complex was reassigned for development as the USAF Space Museum. Since 1966, the USAF Space Museum has been open to the public. The museum includes Complex 26's blockhouse, an exhibit hall and an outdoor display area featuring about 70 missile and space launch vehicles. Complex 26 was declared a national historic landmark in April 1984.

• 1957 August 28 21:02 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-2 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 270 km (160 mi). The fourth Jupiter was fired from AMR at 1602 hours EST over IRBM range and was the second successful flight of the series. The range error was 27.5 nm with a 36.5 nm lateral error. Range was predicted for 146 nm. LOX was cut off at 170 seconds. All flight missions were fulfilled satisfactorily. Separation occurred 5 seconds after burnout, as programmed, This was the first test of separation of body from thrust unit.

• 1957 October 23 01:07 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-3 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,040 km (1,260 mi). The fifth Jupiter was fired from the AMR at 2007 hours EST. This was the first flight with a heat protected nose cone. The ST-90 inertial guidance stabilised platform was operated with partially closed circuits. Cut-off was effected by the guidance system at 170.37 seconds. Since fuel was not depleted, flight time was 9.5 seconds longer than had been predicted for an approximate 1,100 nm range. The range error was 10.2 nm with a 3.4 nm lateral error. The nose cone survived re-entry and impacted in the general vicinity of the predicted impact point. Again, a successful flight.

• 1957 November 27 02:10 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. At 202 seconds of flight mechanical failure of the turbo-pump caused a complete loss of thrust.. Jupiter AM-3A Apogee: 20 km (12 mi). Fired from AMR at 2110 hours EST. Main stage, lift-off, and powered flight were normal. The missile passed through the critical dynamic pressure period and followed the prescribed trajectory until 202 seconds of flight when the engine thrust was terminated. From an analysis covering the period before thrust termination, mechanical failure of the turbo-pump stopped the flow of propellants to the combustion chamber causing a complete loss of thrust. Telemetry signals ceased at 232 seconds. The missile was at an altitude of 65,000 feet when an explosion was observed from the Test Centre above the horizon. The long range mission of this flight was not accomplished; however, other primary and secondary missions were considered successful.

• 1957 December 19 00:07 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Thrust ended abruptly at 116.87 seconds of flight due to turbo-pump malfunction.. Jupiter AM-4 Apogee: 92 km (57 mi). Range: 276 km (171 mi). Fired from AMR at 1507 hours EST. The main-stage, lift-off, and powered flight were normal. The missile followed the prescribed trajectory. Thrust ended abruptly at 116.87 seconds of flight which resulted in a short-range impact. Failure was again attributed to turbo-pump malfunction. The long-range mission. was not accomplished; however, other primary and secondary missions were successfully accomplished. The abrupt shutdown of the power plant resulted in a range of approximately 149 nm and an altitude of approximately 50 nm.

• 1958 February 1 03:47 - Explorer 1 Launch Vehicle: Redstone. Redstone RS-29 Apogee: 1,859 km (1,155 mi). Explorer I, the first U.S. earth satellite, was launched by a modified Army Ballistic Missile Agency Jupiter-C. Explorer I, developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, carried the U.S.-IGY (International Geophysical Year) experiment of James A. Van Allen and resulted in the discovery of the radiation belt around the earth.

• 1958 March 5 18:27 - Explorer 2 Launch Vehicle: Redstone. Fourth Stage failed to ignite.. Redstone RS/CC-26

• 1958 May 18 05:05 - Gaslight Re-entry Vehicle Test mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-5 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,364 km (1,468 mi). AM-5, carrying America's first tactical type re-entry nose cone, was fired from AMR at 0005 hours EST. This was also the first flight test. for first and second stage separation. Impact was 28.3 nm under and 15.6 nm to the right at a range of about 1,275 nm after approximately 960 seconds of flight. In less than five hours, the nose cone was recovered - the world's first recovery of an IRBM nose cone.

• 1958 July 17 09:04 - Gaslight Re-entry Vehicle Test mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-6B Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,302 km (1,430 mi). Fired from AMR at 0404 hours EST to a pre-calculated range of 1,241.3 nm. The nose cone impacted 1.0 nm short and 1.5 nm to the right of the predicted impact point. This was the first flight test of the complete inertial guidance system. The nose cone recovery mission was successful. This was also the second successful flight test of a full scale tactical type nose cone, as well as a successful flight test of the Jupiter lightweight, high explosive warhead.

• 1958 August 27 23:15 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-7 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,238 km (1,390 mi). Fired from AMR at 1815 hours EST. The countdown was normal. Operations were interrupted by one hold -- a 15 minute delay for minor adjustments. Ignition, main-stage, and lift-off were normal. The missile followed the pre-selected trajectory closely during powered flight, though cut-off was effected by fuel depletion rather than by pre-set guidance cut-off. The nose cone impacted 39 nm short and 15.7 nm to the left of the pre-calculated range of 1,246 nm. Jupiter 7 was the first flight test of the warhead and fuse system. This also marked the second flight test of the :Jupiter all-inertial guidance system, the fourth flight test of the NAA S-3D engine operating at 150,000 pounds thrust, and the first flight test of the solid propellant spin rocket and vernier motor.

• 1958 October 10 03:49 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Destroyed after 49 seconds of erratic flight caused by fire in the tail section.. Jupiter AM-9 Fired from AMR at 2249 hours EST. The missile was destroyed after 49 seconds of erratic flight caused by fire in the tail section. The fire was believed to have started by a pin-hole leak near the thrust transducer which burned through the fuel and LOX transducer lines. This was the first Jupiter missile to use swivelled turbine exhaust for roll contral, also first use of solid vernier control.

• 1958 December 13 08:53 - Bioflight 1 Biological mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-13 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,414 km (1,499 mi). Gordo launched into space. Fired from AMR at 0353 hours EST. The missile's nose cone impacted in the pre-selected target area at a range of approximately 1,302 nm. The significant mission of the missile was the flight of a South American squirrel monkey `Gordo' up to and down from outer space. Although nose cone recovery efforts failed because the float mechanism attached to the nose cone did not function, telemetry data provided useful biomedical information and disclosed that the Navy-trained squirrel monkey had withstood the space flight and reentry phase without any adverse physiological effects. Gordo was in a weightless state for 8.3 minutes, he experienced a 10g pressure in takeoff, and a 40g pressure upon reentry at 10,000 miles per hour. The flight was considered one of the outstanding achievements of space research. The impact was 5.2 nm over and 0.75 nm to the right of impact point. The overshoot was caused by interaction which occurred at separation between the booster and aft sections. A temporary cable connecting the two bodies had not been removed prior to launch.

• 1959 February 27 23:50 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-22 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Fired from AMR at 1850 hours EST. The primary mission of impacting the nose cone in a pre-calculated target (MILS Network) was successfully accomplished, The nose cone impacted in the 1,302 nm target area, 2.8 nm over, with no lateral deviations. Again, the vernier engine ran to cut-off rather than the commanded 14 seconds -- a near perfect flight. For the first rime, missile roll was controlled by a turbine exhaust nozzle designed to eliminate problems experienced on previous flights.

• 1959 April 4 00:34 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-22A Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,414 km (1,499 mi). Fired from AMR at 1934 hours EST. The primary mission of impacting a nose cone in a pre-calculated target area (MILS Network) was successfully accomplished with an impact of 0.8 nm under end 5.0 nm to the left of the 1,302 nm range. The lateral miss was believed to have been caused by a drifting gyro.

• 1959 May 7 01:47 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-12 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Fired from AMR at 2047 hours EST. All primary missions were essentially successful, although the impact was 69 nm short and 4.9 nm to the right of the 1,302 nm predicted impact point. This undershoot was due to thrust controller deviation which commanded the exceedingly high thrust level during the main power flight pre-selected flight path. Cut-off occurred at 144 seconds of flight.

• 1959 May 28 07:35 - Bioflight 2 Test/Ionosphere mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-18 Apogee: 96 km (59 mi). Range: 2,414 km (1,499 mi). Able and Baker recovered after spaceflight. Fired from AMR at 0235 hours EST. The flight was successful with impact ranging from 0.1 to 0.4 nm from the target. The missile travelled a 1,302 nm range. The significant mission of the missile was to test the effects of cosmic radiation, increased gravity, and weightlessness on live passengers and biomedical experiments of material housed in the nose cone. On board were an American-born rhesus monkey, Able; a squirrel monkey, Baker; and the biomedical experiments -- yeast , corn, mustard seeds, fruit-fly larvae, human blood, mould spore, and fish eggs. Able and Baker were recovered unharmed within one and one-half hours after lift-off. This milestone marked the first recovery of living creatures from a flight through near space. The biomedical experiments were for NASA analysis. Telemetry data disclosed that the responses of the animals were normal for the conditions they were experiencing. During the boost phase, when the higher g-loads were being sustained, body temperature, respiration, pulse rate, and heartbeat rose but were well within tolerable limits. During the weightless period along the trajectory arc, the physiological responses of Able and Baker approached normal - so near, in fact, that according to telemetry data, Baker appeared either to doze or to become drowsy. Upon reentry, the responses rose again, but at landing the animals were nearing a settled physiological state. This flight was another milestone proving that life could be sustained in a space environment.

• 1959 July 10 01:01 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-15 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,414 km (1,499 mi). Fired from AMR at 2001 hours EST to test missile accuracy. All primary and secondary missions were successfully accomplished and impact was well within 1 nm of the pre-selected point, approximately 1,302 nm downrange -- a miss distance of only 0.48 nm short and 0.09 nm to the right.

• 1959 July 22 04:02 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Redstone. Control system malfunction during re-entry at 380 sec.. Redstone CC-2003 Apogee: 90 km (55 mi). Missile test failure. Missed aimpoint by 684 m.

• 1959 August 5 02:05 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Redstone. Pre-launch tanking error caused early cut-off by fuel depletion.. Redstone CC-2004 Apogee: 90 km (55 mi). Missile test failure. Missed aimpoint by 2,707 m.

• 1959 August 15 00:31 - Beacon 2 Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. First stage shut down too early; no attitude control for upper stages.. Jupiter AM-19B

• 1959 September 15 21:45 - Bioflight 3 Biological mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. The flight was erratic at lift-off and the missile destroyed itself after 13 seconds, just before command destruct. Failure of a silver soldered connection joint to the pressure sphere caused destruction of the missile.. Jupiter AM-23 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Scheduled for launch at 0430 hours EST, was fired from AMR at 1645 hours EST. The nose cane housed several NASA biological specimens, including 14 mice.

• 1959 October 22 03:20 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-31 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,968 km (1,844 mi). The first full range tactical prototype, was fired from AMR at 2220 hours EST. All missions assigned to the flight was successfully accomplished. The missile covered a prescribed range of 1,600.448 nm, with the nose cone impacting 0.9 nm short and 0.6 nm to the right. This was the fourth Chrysler-assembled missile to be flight tested.

• 1959 November 19 01:31 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-25 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 1,233 km (766 mi). Successfully fired from AMR at 2031 hours EST to a pre-calculated range of 664.8 nm. Nose cone impacted 0.9 nm over and 1.0 nm left of the target. This was the first medium range flight for a tactical prototype.

• 1959 December 17 00:03 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-26 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 556 km (345 mi). Fired from AMR at 1903 hours EST to a prescribed distance of 300 nm. The flight was successful in all phases. Impact was 0.3 nm to the right of the 300 nm range.

• 1960 January 26 00:48 - Research and development launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-28 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,410 km (1,490 mi). Fired from AMR at 1948 hours EST to a prescribed range of: 1,299.4 nm. The nose cone impacted 0.04 nm over and 3.27 nm to the left. All missions were successfully accomplished despite elevated temperatures in the tail section. The primary mission of this flight was to test the two-way deflector launch section and to analyse elevated temperatures in the tail

• 1960 March 23 13:35 - Explorer S-46 Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Upper stage failed to ignite. Third stage failed to ignite due to loss of radio contact.. Jupiter AM-19C

• 1960 October 20 16:02 - LST Test mission Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-217 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 1,804 km (1,120 mi). Jupiter missile Live System Test 217, the first to be fired under simulated tactical conditions using GSE prescribed for the Jupiter deployed to NATO I, was fired from AMR at 1102 hours EST. The missile successfully accomplished all primary and secondary missions. The nose cone impacted 1.1 nm over and 0.2 nm right of the pre-determined target 962.5 nm downrange.

• 1960 November 3 05:23 - Explorer 8 Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-19D Apogee: 1,331 km (827 mi). Ionospheric research. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B).

• 1961 February 25 00:13 - Explorer Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Third Stage failed to ignite.. Jupiter AM-19F

• 1961 April 22 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-209 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,808 km (1,744 mi). Jupiter Missile Combat Training Launch 209, the first in a series of 12 CTL firings, was launched from AMR to a prescribed range of 1514 nm. The nose cone impacted .79 nm over and 2.19 nm right of the intended target. All missions were accomplished. The missile followed the intended flight path and performed within the accuracy requirements of the Jupiter system. IAF troops conducted the firing after LOD of MFSC completed the preliminary checkout. The primary mission of the test woe to evaluate the capabilities of launch crews under operational alert conditions.

• 1961 April 27 14:16 - Explorer 11 Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter AM-19E Apogee: 1,458 km (905 mi). Gamma ray data. Spacecraft engaged in research and exploration of the upper atmosphere or outer space (US Cat B).

• 1961 May 24 19:48 - Explorer S-45A Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Second Stage failed to ignite.. Jupiter AM-19G

• 1961 August 5 00:19 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-218 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,811 km (1,746 mi). The second Jupiter to be fired under the operational control of NATO troops in the Combat Training Launch program was fired from AMR at 1919 hours and 06 seconds EST to a range of 1,516 nm. The missile was originally scheduled for firing on 3 August but was postponed because of problems with the fuel probe in the fuel start tank and the micro-switch on the fuel pumping lever arm which controls the fuel flow rate. All missions assigned to the missile and to the NATO training launch crew were successfully accomplished.

• 1961 December 6 22:37 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-115 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Range: 2,811 km (1,746 mi). The third NATO operational control Combat Training Launch was fired from AMR at 1737 hours and 24 seconds EST to a prescribed range of 1,516 nm. The missile was well constrained to the intended flight path and within accuracy requirements of the Jupiter system. The missile impacted in the target area and all missions assigned to this test were successfully accomplished.

• 1962 April 18 18:17 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-114 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi). Combat Training Launch fired from AMR at 1317 hours and 54.1 seconds EST to a predicted impact point of 1,514 nm from the firing site. All functions of the flight were normal up to 153 seconds, at which time fuel depletion was reached and normal guidance cut-off was not achieved. The missile impacted approximately 230 miles short of the intended target. All missions assigned to the NATO training launch crew were accomplished.

• 1962 August 1 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-111 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi).

• 1963 January 22 - Combat training launch Launch Vehicle: Jupiter. Jupiter CM-106 Apogee: 500 km (310 mi).