Model, Missile, Jupiter, 1:48

This is a 1:48 scale model of the U.S. Air Force Jupiter intermediate-range ballistic missile. Carrying one nuclear warhead and with a range of 1,500 miles, 30 Jupiters were deployed in Italy in 1960 and 15 in Turkey in 1962. The Jupiters were extremely vulnerable to a first strike because they were based above ground and took several hours to be readied for launch. Because of this vulnerability, and the fact that in the meantime the United States had deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles, the Jupiters were withdrawn from the two countries in 1963. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center made this model and transferred it to NASM in 1972.