Home > Museum Exhibits >

Launch Complex 26 Gantry

The Launch Complex 26 gantry is only one of two built by the Noble Manufacturing Company from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers specifications. The other gantry was built for Launch Complex 4 for pre-launch servicing of Redstone missiles. That gantry was moved to neighboring Launch Complex 5/6 upon its activation in 1955. It was scrapped after deactivation of the launch complex and prior to 1964, making the Launch Complex 26 gantry the lone survivor.

It was this Launch Complex 26 gantry that was used to service the booster and Explorer I, the first U.S. earth orbiting satellite.

The gantry was designed to provide working access to rockets standing on the launch pad. There were five work platforms, four of which could be adjusted to any level along the vertical tower. The top platform was completely enclosed to providea  clean working environment for payload servicing.

A traveling hoist at the very top would lift rockets and payloads for stacking on the launch pad. There was a large room in the base that was used as an on-site office and ready room. The entire gantry was mounted on four motorized rail trucks that could move the gantry along tracks to any of the four launch pads of Launch Complexes 5/6 and 26. A self-contained diesel generator and fuel supply provided electrical power to drive the traveling motors and hoists. The tower section could be folded down to a horizontal position for maintenance or hurricane protection.

An original blueprint for the gantry is on display in the block and can by seen by clicking on the image (left). The blueprint is very large and may take significant time to download for viewing. How tall is the gantry? According to the blueprint it is 111 feet 9 inches to the top rail on the tower (minus lights and lightning rods above the rail).

It's no accident that the gantry resembles an oil derrick. It was manufactured by the Noble Manufacturing Company of Texas that manufactured oil drilling equipment. Early oil derricks were manufactured to provide the same services as this rocket launch gantry -- to lift long cylinders from a horizontal to vertical position and allow access to those vertical cylinders at various levels. In a rare photo (right), the gantry appears on Launch Pad 6 in its folded position with the individual service platforms removed.

The photo (top right) shows the gantry in 1997 with Redstone rocket standing on Launch Pad 26B. This is how the gantry appeared for many years at the museum and before the restoration began. The gantry restoration is still in work and progress can be viewed on a separate page.

Gantry in an undated photo as it appeared parked at Pad 26A while Complex 26 was an operational launch site.

An extensive set of railroad tracks covered Complex 26 and neighboring Complex 5/6. Each complex had a similar gantry and the tracks allowed the flexibility to move either of the gantries to any of the four launch pads on the two complexes. In this photo taken from the gantry on 14 August 1959, a Juno II stands on Pad 26B. Tracks leading to Pad 26A are in the background.

Closeup view of the launch pedestal where the rocket sat prior to launch. The black triangular pyramid-shaped structure under the pedestal was the blast deflector which directed exhaust from the rocket outward. The striped concrete revetment seen the the left shielded the standpipe which was a water deluge system for cooling the pad during and immediately after launch. The large white pipes next to the launch pedestal are additional water deluge outlets. Note the heavy-duty, powerful wheels which moved the gantry along the railroad tracks.

Two elevators are positioned, one on each side of the vertical tower, to carry workers and equipment to the various working levels. The caged structure is one of the two elevators. Five moveable working platforms are attached to the tower. The platforms can be raised or lowered on the tower to provide access to any rocket being serviced for launch.