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Types of Sounding Rockets

For over 40 years the Sounding Rocket Program has provided critical scientific, technical, and educational contributions to the nation’s space program and is one of the most robust, versatile, and cost-effective flight programs at NASA.

A sounding rocket horizontal on its launch pad at Wallops.
An illustration of multiple sounding rocket types. There are 14 different types of configurations shown, with the smallest on the left to the largest on the right.
A chart of the various types of sounding rocket types launched by NASA.
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility

Terrier Improved Orion

A sounding rocket seconds in mid-launch off the launch pad with a bright white plume underneath. In the background is the Atlantic Ocean with a pale grey sky with no clouds.
NASA successfully launched a MK12 Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments with the RockOn/RockSat-C programs at 6:06 a.m., June 24, 2016. More than 200 middle school, high school, community college and university students and instructors participating in Rocket Week at Wallops were on hand to witness the launch. Through RockOn and RockSat-C students are learning and applying skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight. In addition, high school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS) are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum. The payload flew to an altitude of 74 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops. Payload recovery is in progress.

Terrier Improved Malemute

A sounding rocket seconds in mid-launch off the launch pad with a bright white plume underneath. In the background is the Atlantic Ocean with a pale grey sky with no clouds.
On Thursday, ‎August ‎11, ‎2022, a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket for the RockSat-X mission launched from Wallops Island, VA, carrying scientific experiments from various educational institutions. Participating institutions include Arapahoe Community College in Littleton, Colorado; Red Rocks Community College in Lakewood, Colorado; College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita, California; Virginia Tech in Blacksburg; Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho; Windward Community College in Kāneʻohe, Hawaii; Honolulu Community College, Hawaii; and the University of Kentucky in Lexington.
NASA/Kyle Hoppes

Black Brant IX

A sounding rocket seconds in mid-launch off the launch pad with a bright white plume underneath. The rocket, from bottom to top, has yellow fins on the bottom, a white body section, black fins, a black body section, than an alternating silver and purple section with a silver cone-shaped top. In the background is a clue blue sky.
On Friday, September 7, at 9:30 a.m., a parachute test for a future mission to Mars successfully launched on a NASA Black Brant IX suborbital sounding rocket from Wallops Flight Facility. The rocket carried the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. The payload is a bullet-nosed, cylindrical structure holding a supersonic parachute, the parachute’s deployment mechanism, and the test’s high-definition instrumentation, including cameras, to record data. The payload descended by parachute and splashed-down in the Atlantic Ocean 28 miles from Wallops Island. The parachute was successfully recovered and returned to Wallops for data retrieval and inspection.
NASA/Allison Stancil

Black Brant X

A black and silver sounding rocket horizontal on its launcher. In the background is a blue sky with big, puffy white clouds.
A Black Brant X sounding rocket being prepared for launch operations on August 5, 2010.
NASA

Black Brant XI

A sounding rocket seconds in mid-launch off the launch pad with a bright white plume underneath. The rocket, from bottom to top, has yellow fins on the bottom, a white section, bright yellow fins, a dark green section, a silver section, and then a black cone-shaped top. In the background is a blue sky with big, puffy white clouds.
The IRVE II Black Brant XI sounding rocket launched from Wallops Flight Facility July 23, 2012. Two Viper Dart rockets were also launched.
NASA/Brea Reeves

Black Brant XII

A sounding rocket seconds horizontal attached to its launcher. The rocket, from bottom to top, has white fins on the bottom, a white section, golden fins, a white section, black fins, a long black section that becomes silver and black stripped, and then a greay cone-shaped top. In the background is a blue sky with big, puffy white clouds.
Various horizontal and vertical photographs of the KiNET-X vehicle pre- and post-launcher damage leading up to the launch.
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