Army Ballistic Missile Agency
The Army Ballistic Missile Agency (ABMA) was formed to develop the U.S. Army's first large ballistic missile. The agency was established at Redstone Arsenal on 1 February 1956, and commanded by Major General John B. Medaris with Wernher von Braun as technical director.
Army troops prepare a Redstone missile. Like the V-2 it was based on, Redstone was relatively mobile.
Navaho's booster engines proved to be the only lasting success of the project.
Schriever felt the Army's offer to develop Jupiter for them was too good to be true, and the development of their own Thor would lead to many interservice fights.
Thor was designed from the start to be a countervalue weapon, aimed at Soviet cities. Unlike Jupiter, Thor was designed to be transported by aircraft, specifically the Douglas C-124 Globemaster II.
Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army base adjacent to Huntsville, Alabama in the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. A census-designated place in Madison County, Alabama, United States, it is part of the Huntsville-Decatur Combined Statistical Area. The Arsenal is a host to over 75 tenant agencies including the Department of Defense (DoD), Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and NASA's largest field center, the Marshall Space Flight Center.
Redstone Arsenal Sign, Gate 9
1940s munitions production at Huntsville Arsenal
RSA commander Maj. Gen. John Medaris, Wernher von Braun, and RSA deputy commander Brig. Gen. Holger Toftoy (left to right) in the 1950s
1956: Redstone missile testing on Static Test Stand
