White Sands Missile Museum

Today we spent the whole day being tourists. We went to White Sands National Monument, which I'll put in another post. But first, we checked out the missile museum at White Sands Missile Range which is about 20 miles west of Las Cruces, NM. To avoid some of the red tape, we parked outside the gate and walked in. Each person still needs a drivers license, but it avoids all the paperwork involved with bringing a car in. It was a short walk.


They had an impressive display of missiles of all types and age - most of which were unknown to me. This is Ron's group picture.



I thought these were cute and also liked the Organ Mountains in the background. Actually we were told all pictures had to be that direction - you are not allowed to take shots of the range. I looked that way - just looked like desert to me.

I did read the sign on the one to the left. It seems it was remote controlled and used for target practice! How mean!


I thought this one was interesting. It's called an Aeroshell "Flying Saucer", appropriately enough. The aeroshell was designed for slowing down a missile for landing on Mars. It's believed to be the only one 'in captivity.'



This is a Patriot Missile (which I actually had heard of), but I wondered if this was an 'oops'. You might have to click on it to see what I mean.



This V-2 had top billing. There was an amazing story about the V-2s and White Sands Missile Range. It seems American solders found a V-2 factory in Nordhausen, Germany with 250 V-2s in various stages of completion. The army hurriedly removed and shipped them west. (What they don't explain is how they managed that - it boggles the mind.) Anyway, in August 1945, almost 300 railroad freight cars with captured V-2 components arrived in New Mexico. Using every available flatbed truck in the area, the parts were trucked to the newly established White Sands Proving Ground. General Electric was awarded the contract to assemble, test, and fly the V-2s. What a job! Luckily, in January 1946, many German scientists and engineers arrived at White Sands to assist in the project.

What surprised me most was how big it was. I had seen the V-1 in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and it was the size I expected. The V-2 was 46 feet long, and looked even bigger in this little building.

I have to admit that this museum was much more interesting than I had expected. Ron read every sign and loved it.