Dedication, Launch Complex 5/6

Commemorative booklet issued May 5, 1971 — the tenth anniversary of Alan Shepard’s Freedom 7 flight — dedicating Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 5/6 as a memorial to that flight. Restored to its 1961 configuration, the complex is described as a monument to the astronauts, scientists, engineers, and technicians of the Government-industry team. Traces the pad’s history from its 1955 construction by the U.S. Army for Redstone and Jupiter missile testing through 63 launches over six operational years, including Explorer III and the Jupiter/Pioneer series, ending with Virgil Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7 in July 1961. A center spread on “Freedom 7” narrates Shepard’s May 5, 1961 suborbital flight minute by minute, from suiting up through splashdown 15 minutes later, viewed by 45 million television viewers. A companion biography updates Shepard’s career through his February 1971 Apollo 14 moonwalk at Fra Mauro, ten years after Freedom 7. Closes with a list of the government agencies and contractors (NASA, U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy; Chrysler, McDonnell, North American/Rocketdyne, Pan American, RCA, and Sperry Rand) that made up the launch team.