General Description and Design of the Configuration of the Juno I and Juno II Launching Vehicles

The Juno I Vehicle consists of a modified Redstone Booster with three solid propellant upper stages. The second and third stages are made up by clustering the same rocket used as the fourth stage. The upper stages are contained in a spinning launcher. The spinning provides stability during flight. The Juno II vehicle uses the same upper stages as the Juno I and the booster is a modified Jupiter. The Juno I has put 25 pounds of payload into orbit. The Juno II can carry a 90-pound satellite or 15 pounds in an escape mission. Both vehicles were conceived to provide a quick and economical space vehicle; and as such the design was not optimum in all cases. Problems were created by this approach, such as dispersion of the upper stages as a function of spin speed, heavier payloads which require reinforcing the cluster structure, protecting the missile from aerodynamic heating on some missions, and raising the natural frequency of the cluster structure. These and other problems had to be solved as the Juno program progressed.