It is most well known as the launch site for NASA's 1961 suborbital Mercury-Redstone 3 flight, which made Alan Shepard the first American in space.

It was also the launch site of Gus Grissom's July, 1961, Mercury-Redstone 4 flight.

The first launch from the complex was a Jupiter-A on July 19, 1956 and the final launch was Gus Grissom's Liberty Bell 7 capsule on July 21, 1961.

The original launch consoles and computers are on display in the LC-5 blockhouse.

[2][3] As of 2020[update], a tour of the museum can be arranged through the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex's "Cape Canaveral: Early Space Tour".