TheNike-Cajun was atwo-stagesounding rocket built by combining aNike base stage with aCajun upper stage. The Nike-Cajun was known as aCAN forCajun And Nike.^[1] The Cajun was developed from theDeacon rocket. It retained the external size, shape and configuration of the Deacon but had 36 percent greater impulse than the Deacon due to improved propellant.^[2] It was launched 714 times between 1956 and 1976 and was the most frequently used sounding rocket of the western world. The Nike Cajun had a launch weight of 698 kg (1538 lb), a payload of 23 kg (51 lb), a launch thrust of 246 kN (55,300 lbf) and a maximum altitude of 120 km (394,000 ft). It had a diameter of 42 cm (1 ft 41⁄2 in) and a length of 7.70 m (25 ft 3 in). The maximum speed of the Nike-Cajun was 6,760 km/h (1,880 m/s; 4,200 mph).

The Cajun stage of this rocket was named for theCajun people ofSouth Louisiana because one of the rocket's designers, J. G. Thibodaux, was a Cajun.

The Nike-Cajun configuration was also used by one variation of theMQR-13 BMTS target rocket.^[3]

Engine:

• 1st stage: Allegheny Ballistics Lab. X216A2 solid-fueled rocket; 246 kN (55,000 lb) for 3 s
• 2nd stage: Thiokol TE-82-1 Cajun solid-fueled rocket; 37 kN (8,300 lb) for 2.8 s

• Nike-Apache

• Nike-Cajun atEncyclopedia Astronautica
• Corliss, William R. (1971).NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958-1968: A historical summary. Washington, D.C.: National Aeronautics and Space Administration – via NTRS.
• Newell, Homer E. Jr. (1959).Sounding Rockets. New York: McGraw-Hill.
• Parsch, Andreas (2002)."USAMICOM MQR-13 BMTS".Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles. designation-systems.net. Retrieved2011-01-06.

• University of Michigan/NACA RM-85/PWN-3 Nike-Cajun

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