Strypi is a two-stage US sounding rocket. Its first stage consists of two Recruit, the second of one Castor. It is 31 inches (79 centimeters) in diameter, and has a maximum flight height of 124 miles (200 kilometers).

It was originally designed and built in 1962 by teams from the Sandia National Laboratories in an around-the-clock program that was a part of a larger nuclear weapons testing program, undertaken prior to the imposition of the Limited Test Ban Treaty (LTBT) in October, 1963. It was designed to take a nuclear warhead into space for extra-atmospheric testing. Though it performed this function only once, in Test Checkmate of Operation Fishbowl, it became the "workhorse" of Sandia's rocket research program.[1] The rocket's name came from the efforts of the Sandia teams, which had "taken the tiger by the tail".[1]

In 1968, a modified Strypi was used in Material Test Vehicle (MTV) booster tests. Although atmospheric nuclear testing was now banned, as a part of the Test Readiness Program the U.S. Air Force continued to develop the means of testing, should the ban be lifted.[1]

American target missile. Family of re-entry vehicle test boosters and anti-missile targets using a Castor first stage with two recruit strap-ons, plus a range of upper stages.

Diameter 0.79 m (2.59 ft)
Apogee 200 km (120 mi)
First Launch 1974-03-23
Last Launch 1998-04-17
Status Retired 1998
Number 7
Failures 1
Success Rate 81.82%
First Fail Date 1974-02-07
Last Fail Date 1995-06-26

Derivatives

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The SPARK, also known as the Super Strypi, is a three-stage derivative of the Strypi powerful enough to place a 250 kg payload into Sun-synchronous orbit. The Super Strypi was first launched on 3 November 2015, although on that test the first stage failed soon after lift-off.

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Readiness Program" (PDF). Sandia National Laboratories. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-09-27. Retrieved 2007-03-22.
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