Strypi

Strypi is a US sounding rocket. The Strypi has two stages. The first stage consists of two Recruit, the second of one Castor. The Strypi has a maximum flight height of 200 kilometres and a diameter of 79 centimetres.

The rocket 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 (LTBT) 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, Strypi did become the "workhorse" of Sandia's rocket research program.[1] The rocket's name came from the efforts of the Sandia teams, which had "taken the tiger by the tail".[1]

In 1968, a modified Strypi was used in Material Test Vehicle (MTV) 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.[1]

American target missile. Family of re-entry vehicle test boosters and anti-missile targets using a Castor first stage with two recruit strap-ons, plus a range of upper stages.