The Sandhawk was a

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 used to ...

developed by

Sandia National Laboratories Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), also known as Sandia, is one of three research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). Headquartered in Kirtland Air Force Bas ...

in 1966. This single-stage,

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

rocket had a mass of 700 kg (1,540 lb), a takeoff thrust of 80 kN (18,000

lbf The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a Units of measurement, unit of force used in some System of measurement, systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system. Pou ...

), and could reach heights around 200 km or so. Sandia launched eight of these rockets between 1966 and 1974 as part of experiments conducted for the

United States Atomic Energy Commission The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was an agency of the United States government established after World War II by U.S. Congress to foster and control the peacetime development of atomic science and technology. President ...

. About 25% of the launches failed.

References

Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20150824111209/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/sandhawk.htm Sounding rockets of the United States Sandia National Laboratories {{rocket-stub