posted 10-05-2008 09:42 PM
This sight greeted me on my way home last week:
The Mercury-Redstone at the Gate 2 Press Accreditation site on Rt. 3 on Merritt Island was being disassembled. I stopped and chatted with Tom Wilkes, president of Guard-Lee, who filled me in on the details.
He has been contracted to repair and repaint the modified military missile, and then re-erect it at the causeway Gate 3 KSC entrance, where a similar Redstone was felled by Hurricane Francis in 2004 (That Redstone, which we identified as booster MR-6, one of eight built for the Mercury program, is currently at Guard-Lee waiting for the funds and go-ahead for the massive reconstruction to repair the damage caused by its fall).
The booster will be laid in a truss (you can see the black and white 'extender', sized to get the military missile to the correct height, behind the crane in its truss) and repainted on site. I mentioned getting the roll pattern sized correctly and the right pattern on the fins, and Tom assured me he would be as accurate as possible.
Guard-Lee has already provided the Mercury capsule, seen alongside the booster, which was also damaged by Hurricane Francis.
While I am grateful to see this rocket getting some much needed attention, I will miss seeing it welcoming me to the center on my way to work every morning.
posted 10-05-2008 09:42 PM
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