The Nike Cajun is a two-stage, solid propellant sounding rocket. Sounding rockets are research vehicles which carry instrumnets into the upper atmosphere and near-space environment. The Nike Cajun, which first flew on July 6, 1956, used a surplus military Nike booster and a Thiokol Chemical Corporation (today known as Thiokol Corporation) Cajun rocket motor sustainer. It could lift a 34 kilogram (75 pounds) payload to an altitude of 160 kilometers (100 miles). Replaced by the Orion research rocket, the last Nike Cajun blasted off from NASA's Wollops Flight Facility on March 19, 1976.
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Thrust: 1st stage - 42,500 pounds (189,049 newtons)
2nd stage - 8,500 pounds (37,810 newtons)
Propellant: Missile - Solid Booster
- Solid
First Firing: 1956