Strypi
Strypi is a family of US re-entry vehicle test boosters, anti-missile targets and sounding rockets. They use a Castor first stage with two Recruit strap-on boosters, plus a range of upper stages. It is 31 inches in diameter, and has a maximum flight height of 124 miles.
History
It was originally designed and built in 1962 by teams from the Sandia National Laboratories in an around-the-clock program that was a part of a larger nuclear weapons testing program, undertaken prior to the imposition of the Limited Test Ban Treaty in October, 1963. It was designed to take a nuclear warhead into space for extra-atmospheric testing. Though it performed this function only once, in Test Checkmate of Operation Fishbowl, it became the "workhorse" of Sandia's rocket research program. The rocket's name came from the efforts of the Sandia teams, which had "taken the tiger by the tail".In 1968, a modified Strypi was used in Material Test Vehicle booster tests. Although atmospheric nuclear testing was now banned, as a part of the Test Readiness Program the U.S. Air Force continued to develop the means of testing, should the ban be lifted.