Editing Sounding rocket (section)

== Development history ==
{{Copy edit|date=October 2024}}
The earliest sounding rockets were [[liquid rocket propellant|liquid propellant]] rockets such as the [[WAC Corporal]], [[Aerobee]], and [[Viking (rocket)|Viking]]. The German [[V-2]] served both the US and the USSR's [[R-1 (missile)|R-1]] missile as sounding rockets during the immediate Post World War II periods. During the 1950s and later, inexpensive surplus military boosters such as those used by the [[MIM-3 Nike Ajax|Nike]], [[RIM-8 Talos|Talos]], [[RIM-2 Terrier|Terrier]], and [[AIM-7 Sparrow|Sparrow]] came to be used. Since the 1960s rockets specifically designed for the purpose such as the [[Black Brant (rocket)|Black Brant]] series have dominated sounding rockets, though often having additional stages, many from military surplus.

The earliest attempts at developing sounding rockets were in the Soviet Union. While all of the early rocket developers were concerned largely with developing the ability to launch rockets, some had the objective of investigating the stratosphere and beyond. The first All-Union Conference on the Study of Stratosphere was held in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1934.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Times |first=Walter Duranty special Cable To the New York |date=1934-03-31 |title=RUSSIANS TO PLAN ALTITUDE FLIGHTS; First All-Union Conference on Stratosphere Opens Today in Leningrad. SCIENTISTS WILL ATTEND Practical Methods of Flying in Upper Reaches of the Air Will Be Discussed. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/03/31/archives/russians-to-plan-altitude-flights-first-allunion-conference-on.html |access-date=2025-05-26 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> While the conference primarily dealt with balloon [[Radiosondes]], there was a small group of rocket developers who sought to develop "recording rockets" to explore the stratosphere and beyond.<ref name=Essayshr>{{cite web | title=Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19770026104/downloads/19770026104.pdf | author=!NASA |date= |website= |publisher=NASA |access-date=23 September 2024 }}</ref> [[Sergey Korolev]], who later became the leading figure of the Soviet space program, gave a presentation in which he called for "the development of scientific instruments for high-altitude rockets to study the upper atmosphere."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Siddiqi |first=Asif A. |url=https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Challenge_to_Apollo.html?id=5pQ9AQAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y |title=Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974 |date=2000 |publisher=NASA History Division, Office of Policy and Plans |isbn=978-0-16-061305-0 |language=en}}</ref>

V. V. Razumov, of the Leningrad Group for the Study of Jet Propulsion, had a specific interest in sounding rocket design. As did A. I. Polyarny, who worked in a special group within the Society for Assistance to the Defense, Aviation and Chemical Construction of the U.S.S.R in Moscow, and designed the R-06 which eventually flew but not in the meteorological role.<ref name=Essayshr/>

The early Soviet efforts to develop a sounding rocket ultimately failed before WWII.<ref name=Essayshr/> P. I. Ivanov built a three-stage which flew in March 1946. At the end of summer 1946 development ended because it lacked sufficient thrust to loft a sufficient research payload.<ref name=Essayshr/>

The first successful sounding rocket was created at the [[California Institute of Technology]], where before [[World War II]] there was a group of rocket enthusiasts led by [[Frank Malina]], under the aegis of [[Theodore von Kármán]], known amidst the people of the CIT as the "Suicide Squad." Their immediate goal was to explore the upper atmosphere, which required developing the means of lofting instruments to high altitude and recovering the results. After the start of WWII the CIT rocketry enthusiasts found themselves involved in a number of defense programs, one of which was intended to produce a bombardment guided missile, the Corporal. Eventually known as the [[MGM-5 Corporal]] it became the first guided missile deployed by the US Army.

During WWII the [[Signal Corps (United States Army)|Signal Corps]] created a requirement for a sounding rocket to carry {{convert|25|lb}} of instruments to {{convert|100000|ft|km}} or higher.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bragg |first=James W. |title=Development of the Corporal: The Embryo of the Army Missile Program |volume=I |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/ADA586733.pdf |publisher=Reports and Historical Office, Army Ballistic Missile Agency, Army Ordnance Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal |location=Alabama |year=1961 |page=42}}</ref> To meet that goal Malina proposed a small [[Liquid-propellant rocket]] to provide the GALCIT team necessary experience to aid in developing the Corporal missile.<ref name="Malina3">{{cite book | last1 = Malina | first1 = F. J.  | date = 1969 | chapter = The U.S. Army Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project GALCIT Project No. 1, 1939-1946: A Memoir | url = https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/19770026104/downloads/19770026104.pdf | title = Essays on the History of Rocketry and Astronautics: Proceedings of the Third Symposia of the International Academy of Astronautics, Volume II  | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration Scientific and Technical Information Office | location= Washington D.C. |page=153}}</ref><ref name="Malina2">{{cite conference |title=Frank. J Malina : Astronautical Pioneer Dedicated to International Cooperation and the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space |conference=57th International Astronautical Congress |year=2006 |doi=10.2514/6.IAC-06-H.L.4.01}} p11</ref> Malina with Tsien Hsue-shen ([[Qian Xuesen]] in Pinyin transliteration), wrote "Flight analysis of a Sounding Rocket with Special Reference to Propulsion by Successive Impulses." As the Signal Corps rocket was being developed for the Corporal project, and lacked any guidance mechanism, it was Without Attitude Control. Thus it was named the [[WAC Corporal]]. The WAC Corporal served as the foundation of Sounding Rocketry in the USA. WAC Corporal was developed in two versions, the second of which was much improved. After the war, the WAC Corporal was in competition for sounding mission funding with the much larger captured [[V-2 rocket]] being tested by the U.S. Army.  WAC Corporal was overshadowed at its job of cost-effectively lifting pounds of experiments to altitude, thus it effectively became obsolescent. WAC Corporals were later modified to become the upper stage of the first two staged rocket the [[RTV-G-4 Bumper]].

Captured V-2s dominated American sounding rockets and other rocketry developments during the late 1940s.<ref>{{cite book |last=DeVorkin |first=David H.  |title=Science With A Vengeance |publisher=[[Springer-Verlag]] |location=New York |year=1992 |isbn=0-387-94137-1}}</ref> To meet the need for replacement a new sounding rocket was developed by the [[Aerojet|Aerojet Corporation]] to meet a requirement of the [[Applied Physics Laboratory]] and the [[Naval Research Laboratory]]. Over 1,000 Aerobees of various versions for varied customers were flow between 1947 and 1985.<ref name=soundingrockets>{{cite book|author=Newell, Homer E. Jr.|title=Sounding Rockets|publisher=McGraw-Hill|location=New York|date=1959}}</ref>{{rp|57}}<ref name=Kennedy>{{cite book|author=Kennedy, Gregory P|title=The Rockets and Missiles of White Sands Proving Ground 1945–1958|publisher=Schiffer Military History|location=Atglen, PA|date=2009|isbn=978-0-7643-3251-7|page=107}}</ref> One engine produced for the Aerobee ultimately powered the second stage of the [[Vanguard (rocket)]], the first designed for the purpose [[Satellite Launch Vehicle]], Vanguard. The AJ10 engine used by many Aerobees eventually evolved into the AJ10-190 which formed the [[Orbital Maneuvering System]] of the Space Shuttle.<ref name=Sutton>{{cite book |last=Sutton |first=George |title=History of Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines | year=2006 |publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics |location=Reston Virginia |isbn=1-56347-649-5}}</ref>

The [[Viking (rocket)]] was intended from the start by the Navy not only to be a sounding rocket capable of replacing, even exceeding the V-2, but also to advance guided missile technology.<ref name=vikingstory>{{cite book|author=Milton W. Rosen|title=The Viking Rocket Story|publisher=Harper & Brothers|location=New York|date=1955|oclc=317524549}}</ref> The Viking was controlled by a multi-axis guidance system with gimbled [[Reaction Motors]] XLR10-RM-2 engine. The Viking was developed through two major versions. After the United States announced it intended to launch a satellite in the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958) the Viking was chosen as the first stage of the Vanguard Satellite Launch Vehicle. The last two Vikings were fired as Vanguard Test Vehicle 1 and 2.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Green |first1=Constance |url=https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19710008544 |title=Vanguard - a History |last2=Lomask |first2=Milton |publisher=NASA |year=1970 |location=Washington D.C. |page= |id=NASA-SP-4202}} {{PD-notice}}</ref>

During the post WWII era the USSR also pursued V-2 base sounding rockets. The last two R-1As were flown in 1949 as sounding rockets. They were followed between July 1951 and June 1956 by 4 R-1B, 2 R-1V, 3 R-1D and 5 R-1Es, and 1 R-1E (A-1).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-1.html |title=R-1 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> The improved V-2 descendant the R-2A could reach 120 miles and were flown between April 1957 and May 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-2a.html |title=R-2A |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Fifteen R-5Vs were flown from June 1965 to October 1983. Two R-5 VAOs were flown in September 1964 and October 1965.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-5v.html |title=R-5V |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref>  The first solid-fueled Soviet sounding rocket was the M-100.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/m/m-100.html |title=M-100 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Some 6640 M-100 sounding rockets were flown from 1957 to 1990.

Other early users of sounding rockets were Britain, France and Japan.

Great Britain developed the [[Skylark (rocket)]] series and the later [[Skua]] for the [[International Geophysical Year]].<ref name=soundingrockets/>

France had begun the design of a [[Super V-2]] but that program had been abandoned in the late 1940s due to the inability of France to manufacture all components necessary. Though development of the [[Veronique (rocket)]] began in 1949, it was not until 1952 that the first full scale Veronique was launched. Veronique variants were flown until 1974.<ref name=soundingrockets/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/v/veronique.html |title=Veronique |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=26 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> The [[Monica (rocket)]] family, an all solid-fueled which was pursued in a number of versions and later replaced by the ONERA. series of rockets.<ref name=soundingrockets/>

Japan was another early user with the [[Kappa (rocket)]]. Japan also pursued Rockoons.<ref name=soundingrockets/>

The People's Republic of China was the last nation to launch a new liquid-fueled sounding rocket, the T-7.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.astronautix.com/t/t-7.html |title=T-7 |last=Wade |first=Mark |date= |website=Astronautix |publisher=Mark Wade |access-date=28 September 2024 |quote=}}</ref> It was first fired from a very primitive launch site, where the "command center" and borrowed power generator were in a grass hut separated from the launcher by a small river. There was no communications equipment- not even a telephone between the command post and the rocket launcher. The T-7 led to the T-7M, T-7A, T-7A-S, T-7A-S2 and T-7/GF-01A. The T-7/ GF-01A was used in 1969 to launch the FSW satellite technology development missions. Thus the I-7 led to the first Chinese satellite, the Dong Fang Hong 1 (The East is Red 1), launched by a DF-1. Vital to the development of Chinese rocketry and the Dong Feng-1 was [[Qian Xuesen]] (Tsien Hsue-shen in Wade Guiles transliteration) who with [[Theodore von Kármán]] and the California Institute of Technology "Suicide Squad" created the first successful sounding rocket the [[WAC Corporal]].

By the early 1960s the sounding rocket was considered established technology.