It was subsequently employed in a variety of missiles and multi-stage sounding rockets, becoming one of the most popular and reliable rocket stages, not only in the United States, but also in several other countries around the world.[5]
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A Nike Orion rocket in flight
TheNike Deacon has a ceiling of 189 km, a takeoff thrust of 217 kN, a takeoff weight of 710 kg, a diameter of 0.42 m and a length of 7.74 m.[5][6]
TheNike Javelin was launched 34 times between 1964 and 1978. The maximumflight altitude of the Nike Javelin was 130 km, the takeoff thrust 217 kN, takeoff weight 900 kg, 0.42 m and length 8.20 m.[7][8]
TheNike Malemute consists of a Nike starting stage and aMalemute upper stage. It has a ceiling of 500 km (310 mi), a takeoff thrust of 48,800 lbf (217 kN), a takeoff weight of 1,000 kg (2,200 lb), a diameter of 0.42 m (17 in) and a length of 8.60 metres (28 feet 3 inches).[9]
TheNike Orion has a Nike base stage, taken fromU.S. Army surplus stocks, and anOrion upper stage. The Nike Orion is 9.01 metres (29 feet 7 inches) long. There are two stages of boosters; the first is 41.9 cm (16.5), and the second is 35.6 cm (14.0 in). It has a launch weight of 1,100 kilograms (2,400 pounds), a launch thrust of 217 kN (48,800 lbf) and a ceiling of 140 km (460,000 ft).[10][2] The first Nike-Orion rocket was launched on February 26, 1977, and had more than 175 launches through the 2000s.
TheNike Recruit has an apogee of 5 km, a liftoff thrust of 217 kN, a total mass of 1100 kg and a total length of 8.00 m.[11]
TheNike Tomahawk has a Nike rocket as the first stage, and aTomahawk rocket as the second. The Nike Tomahawk has a ceiling of 230statute miles (370 km), a payload capacity of 100 pounds (45 kg), a launch thrust of 49,000pounds of force (217kN), a launch weight of 2,200 pounds (1,000 kg), a diameter of 17 inches (0.43 m) and a length of 35 feet 5 inches (10.80 m). The Nike Tomahawk was launched 395 times between June 25, 1963, and November 27, 1995.[12][13] One of its launches was in 1966 on the beach inCassino,Rio Grande,Brazil.
TheNike Viper consists of a Nike starting stage and a Viper upper stage. The Nike Viper has a ceiling of 80 km, a takeoff thrust of 217 kN (48,800 lbf), a takeoff weight of 600 kg and a length of 8.00 m.[14][15]
Below is a list of sounding rockets based on Nike, Nike-Nike or Nike upper stage combinations:[16][17][18]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg)
