Scout X-1 was an American

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket sta ...

and

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 ...

which was flown seven times between August 1960 and October 1961. Four

orbit In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as a p ...

al and three

suborbital 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 r ...

launches were made, with four of the launches resulting in failures. The Scout X-1 was similar to the

Scout X Scout X, also known as Cub Scout, was an American rocket which served as a prototype of the Scout, which was launched on a single test flight in 1960. It was used to test the configuration that later Scout rockets would use as well as two of the so ...

test vehicle which was launched in April 1960, however it had live second and fourth stages, as opposed to the

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ...

versions used on the Scout X. It also featured an improved first stage, using an Algol 1B instead of the earlier

Algol 1A ALGOL (; short for "Algorithmic Language") is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in 1958. ALGOL heavily influenced many other languages and was the standard method for algorithm description used by the ...

used on the Scout X. All seven launches occurred from Launch Area 3 at the

Wallops Flight Facility Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard ...

. The maiden flight was a suborbital test of the rocket's systems, and was conducted successfully on 2 July 1960, with the rocket launching at 00:04 GMT. Following this, a suborbital radiation experiment was successfully launched on 4 October 1960. The first orbital launch attempt, with the S-56 satellite, was made on 4 December 1960, and ended in failure after the second stage malfunctioned. On 16 February 1961, a Scout X-1 successfully placed Explorer 9, a reflight of the failed S-56, into Earth orbit, in the first successful orbital launch to be conducted by a

Scout Scout may refer to: Youth movement *Scout (Scouting), a child, usually 10–18 years of age, participating in the worldwide Scouting movement **Scouts (The Scout Association), section for 10-14 year olds in the United Kingdom **Scouts BSA, sectio ...

rocket. The next launch attempt on 30 June 1961 carried the S-55 satellite, but this did not reach orbit because the third stage failed to ignite. A reflight of S-55,

Explorer 13 Explorer 13, (also called S-55A), was a NASA satellite launched as part of the Explorer program on 25 August 1961, at 18:29:44 GMT, from Wallops Flight Facility (WFF), Virginia. Mission The objectives of the flight were to test vehicle perfo ...

, was launched on 25 August 1961, but reached a lower than planned orbit, and was unusable. The final flight of the Scout X-1 was made on 19 October 1961, carrying

plasma Plasma or plasm may refer to: Science * Plasma (physics), one of the four fundamental states of matter * Plasma (mineral), a green translucent silica mineral * Quark–gluon plasma, a state of matter in quantum chromodynamics Biology * Blood pla ...

and

aeronomy Aeronomy is the scientific study of the upper atmosphere of the Earth and corresponding regions of the atmospheres of other planets. It is a branch of both atmospheric chemistry and atmospheric physics. Scientists specializing in aeronomy, known a ...

research payloads on a suborbital trajectory. This launch was successful. Several derivatives of the Scout X-1 were also flown. The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

developed the

Blue Scout The Scout family of rockets were American launch vehicles designed to place small satellites into orbit around the Earth. The Scout multistage rocket was the first orbital launch vehicle to be entirely composed of solid fuel stages. It was also ...

, which was a three-stage

, and the Blue Scout II which was almost identical to the Scout X-1. The Scout X-1A, a five-stage variant of the Scout X-1, was used for a single suborbital launch in March 1962. It featured an improved first stage, and a NOTS-17 upper stage.

References

* * * * {{Orbital launch systems 1960 in spaceflight 1961 in spaceflight X-1