The Castor A was an
Argentine
Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...
sounding rocket
A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are often ...
designed in 1969 by the Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronáuticas y Espaciales (IIAE).
The rocket featured a
two-stage
A multistage rocket or step rocket is a launch vehicle that uses two or more rocket ''stages'', each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A ''tandem'' or ''serial'' stage is mounted on top of another stage; a ''parallel'' stage is ...
configuration, utilizing five
Canopus II rockets (four in the first stage and one in the second).
It was capable of placing a 75 kg (165 lb) payload at a 400 km altitude.
Throughout its operational lifespan, the Castor A was launched seven times.
It experienced one failure during one of its launches, thus achieving a success rate of approximately 83.3%.
Launches
Castor was launched seven times:
Specifications
* Apogee: 400 km
* Total mass: 355 kg
* Diameter: 69 cm
* Length: 8 m
Images
File:Cohete Castor CRX-01 en CELPA Chamical.jpg, First Castor (CRX-01) at CELPA Chamical
File:Preparación del cohete Castor.JPG, Castor launch preparations
References
{{Argentina space program
Space programme of Argentina
Sounding rockets of Argentina
Solid-fuel rockets