Editing Marshall Space Flight Center (section)

===Groundwork===
After the May 1945 end of [[World War II]] in Germany, the US initiated [[Operation Paperclip]] to collect a number of scientists and engineers who had been at the center of Nazi Germany's advanced military technologies. In August 1945, 127 missile specialists led by [[Wernher von Braun]] signed work contracts with the [[United States Army Ordnance Corps]].{{cn|date=June 2023}} Most of them had worked on the [[V-2]] missile development under von Braun at [[Peenemünde]]. The missile specialists were sent to [[Fort Bliss, Texas]], joining the Army's newly formed Research and Development Division Sub-office (Rocket).{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

For the next five years, von Braun and the German scientists and engineers were primarily engaged in adapting and improving the V-2 missile for U.S. applications. Testing was conducted at nearby [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands Proving Grounds, New Mexico]]. von Braun was allowed to use a [[WAC Corporal]] rocket as a second stage for a V-2; the combination, called Bumper, reached a record-breaking {{cvt|250|mi|km}} altitude.<ref>Fidenbach, Peter L.; [http://nmsua.edu/tiopete/files/2008/12/wspgcoldbook.pdf "A Brief History of White Sands Proving Ground"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141028154222/http://nmsua.edu/tiopete/files/2008/12/wspgcoldbook.pdf |date=2014-10-28}}, N.M. State Univ.</ref>

During World War II, the production and storage of ordnance shells was conducted by three arsenals nearby to [[Huntsville, Alabama]]. After the war, these were closed, and the three areas were combined to form [[Redstone Arsenal]]. In 1949, the [[United States Secretary of the Army|Secretary of the Army]] approved the transfer of the rocket research and development activities from [[Fort Bliss]] to the new center at Redstone Arsenal. Beginning in April 1950, about 1,000 persons were involved in the transfer, including von Braun's group. At this time, R&D responsibility for guided missiles was added, and studies began on a medium-range guided missile that eventually became the [[PGM-11 Redstone]].{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

Over the next decade, missile development at Redstone Arsenal greatly expanded. However, von Braun kept space firmly in his mind, and published a widely read article on this subject.<ref>Wernher von Braun; [[Man Will Conquer Space Soon!|"Crossing the Last Frontier"]], ''Collier's Magazine'', March 22, 1952, pp. 24–29, 72, 74</ref> In mid-1952, the Germans were hired as regular civil service employees, with most becoming U.S. citizens in 1954-55. Von Braun was appointed Chief of the Guided Missile Development Division.<ref>[http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/chron2b/welcome.html "Redstone Arsenal Complex Chronology, Part II: Nerve Center of Army Missilery, 1950-62 - Section B: The ABMA/AOMC Era, 1956-62"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060716183621/http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/chron2b/welcome.html |date=2006-07-16 }}. Redstone Arsenal Historical Information. United States Army</ref>

In September 1954, von Braun proposed using the Redstone as the main booster of a multi-stage rocket for launching artificial satellites. A year later, a study for [[Project Orbiter]] was completed, detailing plans and schedules for a series of scientific satellites. However, the Army's official role in the U.S. space satellite program was delayed after higher authorities elected to use the [[Vanguard (rocket)|Vanguard rocket]] then being developed by the [[Naval Research Laboratory]] (NRL).{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

In February 1956, the [[Army Ballistic Missile Agency]] (ABMA) was established. One of the primary programs was a {{convert|1500|mi|km|adj=on}}, single-stage missile that was started the previous year; intended for both the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, this was designated the [[PGM-19 Jupiter]]. Guidance component testing for this Jupiter intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) began in March 1956 on a modified Redstone missile dubbed Jupiter A while re-entry vehicle testing began in September 1956 on a Redstone with spin-stabilized upper stages. This ABMA developed [[Jupiter-C]] was composed of a Redstone rocket first stage and two upper stages for RV tests or three upper stages for Explorer satellite launches. ABMA had originally planned the 20 September 1956 flight as a satellite launch but, by direct intervention of Eisenhower, was limited to the use of 2 upper stages for an RV test flight traveling {{cvt |3350 |mi |km}} downrange and attaining an altitude of {{cvt|682|mi|km}}. While the Jupiter-C capability was such that it could have placed the fourth stage in orbit, that mission had been assigned to the NRL.<ref>[https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/expinfo.html "Data Sheet - Explorer-1 and Jupiter-C"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201127020238/https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/expinfo.html |date=2020-11-27 }}, Dept. of Astronautics, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution;</ref><ref>A. E. Wolfe and W. J. Truscott, ''Juno Final Report Volume 1, Juno 1: Re-entry Test Vehicles and Explorer Satellites'', JPL, 1960</ref> Later Jupiter-C flights would be used to launch satellites. The first Jupiter IRBM flight took place from Cape Canaveral in March 1957 with the first successful flight to full range on 31 May.<ref>James N. Gibson, ''Nuclear Weapons of the United States, An Illustrated History'', page 167, Schiffer Publishing Ltd., Atglen, Pennsylvania, 1996</ref> Jupiter was eventually taken over by the U.S. Air Force.<ref>{{cite book |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815193810/https://history.redstone.army.mil/miss-jupiter.html#ch4|url= https://history.redstone.army.mil/miss-jupiter.html#ch4 |title=Jupiter |chapter=Chapter IV: Operational Control to the Air Force |publisher=redstone.army.mil |access-date= |archive-date=August 15, 2022}}</ref>

The Soviet Union launched [[Sputnik 1]], the first artificial [[Low Earth orbit|Earth orbiting]] satellite, on October 4, 1957. This was followed on November 3 with the second satellite, [[Sputnik 2]]. The United States attempted a satellite launch on December 6 using the NRL's Vanguard rocket, but it barely struggled off the ground, then fell back and exploded. On January 31, 1958, after finally receiving permission to proceed, von Braun and the ABMA space development team used a Jupiter C in a [[Juno I]] configuration (addition of a fourth stage) to successfully place [[Explorer 1]], the first US satellite, into orbit around the Earth.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

Effective at the end of March 1958, the U.S. Army Ordnance Missile Command (AOMC), encompassing the ABMA and its newly operational space programs. In August, AOMC and [[DARPA|Advanced Research Projects Agency]] (ARPA, a Department of Defense organization) jointly initiated a program managed by ABMA to develop a large space booster of approximately 1.5-million-pounds thrust using a cluster of available rocket engines. In early 1959, this vehicle was designated [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn]].{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

On April 2, President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] recommended to Congress that a civilian agency be established to direct nonmilitary space activities. On July 29, the President signed the [[National Aeronautics and Space Act]], forming the [[National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA). NASA incorporated the [[National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics]], [[Ames Research Center]], [[Langley Research Center]], and [[Glenn Research Center|Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory]].{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}} Despite the existence of an official space agency, the Army continued with far-reaching space programs. In June 1959, a secret study on [[Project Horizon]] was completed by ABMA, detailing plans for using the Saturn booster in establishing a crewed Army outpost on the Moon. Project Horizon was rejected, and the Saturn program was transferred to NASA.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}}

[[Project Mercury]] was officially named on 26 November 1958. With a future goal of crewed flight, monkeys Able and [[Miss Baker]] were the first living creatures recovered from outer space on May 28, 1959. They had been carried in the [[nose cone]] on a Jupiter missile to an altitude of {{cvt|300|mi|km}} and a distance of {{cvt|1500|mi|km}}, successfully withstanding 38 times the normal pull of gravity.{{citation_needed|date=July 2019}} On October 21, 1959, President Eisenhower approved the transfer of all Army space-related activities to NASA.