Scout X-1A was an American sounding rocket which was flown in 1962. It was a five-stage derivative of the earlier

Scout X-1 Scout X-1 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four orbital and three suborbital launches were made, with four of the launches resulting in failures. The ...

, with an uprated first stage, and a NOTS-17 upper stage. The Scout X-1A used an Algol 1C first stage, instead of the earlier Algol 1B used on the Scout X-1. The second, third and fourth stages were the same as those used on the Scout X-1; a Castor 1A, Antares 1A and Altair 1A respectively. The fifth stage was the NOTS-17

solid rocket motor A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persia ...

, which had been developed by the

Naval Ordnance Test Station Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS) China Lake is a large military installation in California that supports the research, testing and evaluation programs of the United States Navy. It is part of Navy Region Southwest under Commander, Navy Installat ...

. The Scout X-1A was launched on its only flight at 05:07 GMT on 1 March 1962. It flew from Launch Area 3 of the Wallops Flight Facility. The flight carried an

atmospheric re-entry Atmospheric entry is the movement of an object from outer space into and through the gases of an atmosphere of a planet, dwarf planet, or natural satellite. There are two main types of atmospheric entry: ''uncontrolled entry'', such as the entr ...

experiment to an

apogee An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion. General description There are two apsides in any ell ...

of , and was successful. Following this, the Scout X-1A was replaced by the

Scout X-2 Scout X-2 was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket which was flown twice in 1962. It was a four-stage rocket, based on the earlier Scout X-1, uprated first and third stages. It was a member of the Scout family of rockets. T ...

References

* * * * 1962 in spaceflight

X-1A The Bell X-1 (Bell Model 44) is a rocket engine–powered aircraft, designated originally as the XS-1, and was a joint National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics–U.S. Army Air Forces– U.S. Air Force supersonic research project built by B ...

{{rocket-stub