Viking Sounding Rocket

This is the Viking 12, the last of a series of U.S. large-scale, liquid-propellant sounding rockets designed specifically to replace the diminishing numbers of captured V-2 rockets used for upper-atmospheric research after World War II. Viking's 20,000-pound thrust, XLR-10 liquid-propellant rocket engine was developed by Reaction Motors, Incorported. The rocket first flew in 1949.