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| A Redstone CC-20 developmental launch cover from "Goldcraft", postmarked at Port Canaveral with a hand cancel on July 21, 1959. |
The Redstone was an Army intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) developed by the team at Huntsville under Wernher von Braun. It was derived from German V-2 technology but represented a substantial advancement in American missile engineering. The first Redstone test flight took place at Cape Canaveral on August 20, 1953, and the missile subsequently entered operational Army service in 1958. By July 1959, the Redstone was already being considered for a completely different purpose: human spaceflight.
