Orión (rocket)
Orión was the designation of a sounding rocket family of Argentina, which was launched between 1965 and 1971 at CELPA (El Chamical), CELPA (Mar Chiquita), Tartagal and Wallops Island.
Developed by the Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronauticas y Espaciales, An Orión flight on August 13, 1966 that reached an apogee of 114 km, surpassing the Kármán line, made Argentina the first South American nation to launch a rocket into space.
Orión-1
The first version Orión-1 was flown twice in 1965 and 1966 from CELPA, in order to test the engines and technologies.It had a length of, a diameter of and a weight of. Apogee was for a payload. Solid fuel mass was with a burn time of 12 seconds.
Launches
Table of Orión-1 launches:| Date | Launch Site | Launch Vehicle | Mission Type | Apogee |
| 1965 October 1 | CELPA | Orión-1 | Test mission | 90 km |
| 1966 July 1 | CELPA | Orión-1 | Test mission | 90 km |
Orión-2
In November 1966, three tests of the updated Orión-2 took place from Wallops Island.This version had a gross takeoff mass of and could carry a payload to an apogee of. Its dimensions were in length and in diameter.
Orión-2 was launched 22 times from 1966 to 1971. Besides Wallops, launch sites included CELPA, CELPA and Tartagal.
Launches
Table of Orión-2 launches:| Date | Launch Site | Launch Vehicle | Mission Type | Apogee |
| 1966 May 19 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Test mission | 100 km |
| 1966 August 13 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Test mission | 114 km |
| 1966 September 1 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Test mission | 90 km |
| 1966 November 4 | Wallops Island | Orión-2 | Test mission | 90 km |
| 1966 November 7 | Wallops Island | Orión-2 | Failure | 0 km |
| 1966 November 9 | Wallops Island | Orión-2 | Test mission | 82 km |
| 1966 November 12 | Tartagal | Orión-2 | Eclipse mission | 90 km |
| 1966 November 12 | Tartagal | Orión-2 | Eclipse mission | 90 km |
| 1966 November 12 | Tartagal | Orión-2 | Eclipse mission | 90 km |
| 1967 May 19 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Rat payload | 90 km |
| 1967 September 6 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Aeronomy mission | 90 km |
| 1967 September 7 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Aeronomy mission | 90 km |
| 1967 September 7 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Aeronomy mission | 90 km |
| 1967 December 14 | CELPA | Orión-2 | X-ray astronomy mission | 35 km |
| 1967 December 16 | CELPA | Orión-2 | X-ray astronomy mission | 70 km |
| 1968 January 24 | Mar Chiquita | Orión-2 | Chemical release mission | 90 km |
| 1968 November 27 | Mar Chiquita | Orión-2 | Chaff | 56 km |
| 1969 May 28 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Biological mission | 90 km |
| 1969 August 30 | CELPA | Orión-2 | X-ray astronomy mission | 90 km |
| 1969 August 30 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Biological mission | 90 km |
| 1970 May 3 | Mar Chiquita | Orión-2 | Chemical release/fields mission | 90 km |
| 1971 December 19 | CELPA | Orión-2 | Test mission | 106 km |