BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. — A piece of Space Coast military history, damaged by a hurricane years ago, is now back to it's former glory.

The restored relic is one that pre-dates the country's space program.

Hurricane Matthew was a Category 5 storm when it skirted the Space Coast in September 2016.

Powerful winds did a lot of damage, including to a 1950's Cold War-era intercontinental cruise missile on display outside Cape Canaveral Space Force Station — turning the one of a kind history piece named Navaho into a mangled mess.

Nearly all of the more than dozen Navaho launches from 1956-57 failed, and not long after the program was canceled.

Decades later this relic's future here looked bleak too.

"The booster was completely collapsed and crushed, the wings were off of it," said Kevin Schrock, whose company, Integrated Construction Management Inc, was hired to restore the damaged missile.

"It was quite the project," Schrock said. "We were able to restore the Navaho, the booster we had fabricated."

"It's the ancestor to so many space and missile programs," said James Draper, Air Force Space & Missile Museum Director. "It look like it's right off the assembly line."

The yearlong project just wrapped up and the missile was carefully placed back on its stand near the main gate.

Project managers made it more storm resistant by bolting and welding the Navaho's structural skeleton.

"We're really excited to return this to the collection," Draper said.

And for Schrock, playing a key role in the missile's return was special.

"It's been a privilege to be able to bring it back," he said.

The Navaho may have failed as a program, but it's technology led to the development of the Apollo and Space Shuttle Programs.

The missile is on display outside the Sands Space History Center, which is open to the public.