Model Kit, Rocket, Mercury Redstone

This unassembled plastic model kit of a Mercury Redstone rocket was built and sold by Revell, Inc. The box art appealed to prospective buyers by evoking the headline-making excitement of the launch of a Mercury spacecraft atop a Redstone launch vehicle, a hallmark of the beginning of the American human spaceflight program. The Redstone missile, a direct descendant of the V-2, was developed by the Army Ballistic Missile Agency under the direction of Wernher von Braun. In 1961, Redstone rockets were successfully used to launch Mercury spacecraft, including the flight of Ham the chimpanzee and Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, the first two Americans in space. This model was found in the collection.