If you travel to Warren, New Hampshire, you won't be able to miss the gigantic rocket in the middle of the town square. This 8-ton Redstone rocket was given to the town in 1971 when the U.S. government discontinued its mission. Some towns have nice Civil War cannons in the square, but Warren has a REAL showstopper!

This rocket in Warren has a wonderful connection to the Jeff Bezos rocket that lifted off today in the Texas desert to make space travel history. 

 

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Jeff Bezos and his crew went to space today in a short but historic flight. The crew touched the edge of space with both the oldest and youngest people ever to pass the "Karman Line," the internationally recognized boundary of space. Bezos (also the first billionaire in space) hopes to make his Blue Origin reusable rocket system a real space business for both payload and passengers.

 

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The History of the Redstone Rocket in New Hampshire

The Redstone had been used to carry out nuclear tests and carried LIVE NUCLEAR WARHEADS. No worries, the one in New Hampshire is empty. The Redstone was also the rocket that propelled famed astronaut Alan Shepard into space in his quick orbital flight in 1961. Shepard became the first American to be in space, and he was from Derry, New Hampshire! The Redstone rocket was brought to Warren in honor of Shepard, one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts.

 

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The connection to the Jeff Bezos Blue Origin craft? The Bezos spaceship was named New Shepard, after Alan Shepard. Pretty cool!

 

 

Shepard died in 1998 but did make it back into space and the moon later in his astronaut career. Do you think Jeff Bezos might put a Whole Foods or Amazon store on the moon someday?

 

 

Watch the New Shepard flight from today!

 

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