SRT25 - Day 102
Summer 2025 Road Trip
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Bones: Good Morning Bill! Happy Birthday! Let’s go for a paddle.
Good morning Bones. Most dogs want to go for a walk in the morning. But you would much rather go for a paddle. Ok, now that I’m awake, let’s go.
This morning, we were paddling Elbow Pond. It’s a nice little pond. On the back side there is a beaver lodge, but nobody seems to be home.
After loading everything we were on the road again. And to our surprise we saw a rocket on the side of the road. So, we just had to stop and figure out what a rocket is doing in Warren, New Hampshire.
Come to find out it’s not a rocket, but a missile. A rocket and a missile are basically the same thing, but have entirely different functions. A missile carries an explosive warhead on its top, where as a rocket carries a capsule, satellite or some other cargo destined for space.
This is actually one of the Redstone missiles that was used by the U.S. Army from 1958-1964 during the Cold War. During that time, NASA modified several of these missiles for the space program. They removed the warhead and replaced it with a space capsule. On January 31, 1958 NASA launched the first American satellite into orbit. Just two years later on January 1, 1961 NASA launched the first primate into space. Then on May 5, 1961, New Hampshire native Alan Shepard became the first American to go into orbit around Earth. And all these flights were made with the use of Redstone Rockets.
https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/alan-shepard
In 1958, the Redstone missile was the pinnacle of medium range ballistic missile technology, but by 1964 it was outdated and being replaced with the new Pershing missile. Once the Redstone missile was decommissioned, it was dismantled and sold for scrap.
Now, back to our story about why this missile is here. In 1971 Sargent First Class Henry “Ted” Asselin was able to convince the U.S. Army to let him bring a decommissioned Redstone missile back to rural New Hampshire to honor Mercury Seven Astronaut Alan Shepard and show the children something real from the space and science community that they could actually see and touch. And that is how a Cold War missile made its way to Warren, New Hampshire.
Tonight we’re staying with Lynn and John in Vermont. And Lynn made a special chocolate cake for my birthday. Thank you Lynn it was delicious.