This is an assembled flying Nike-Smoke rocket model of 1:10 scale, produced by Centuri Engineering. The model has a pasteboard body and fins, and a plastic parachute. A solid propellant rocket motor propels the model; the parachute is deployed at the end of the vertical flight. The model can be retrieved and used again. The Nike-Smoke, used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to launch payloads for upper atmosphere research, employed the first stage of the U.S. Army's Nike surface-to-air missile.
This model was donated to the Museum in 1970 by the manufacturer, one of the largest American makers of flying models.
This object is not on display at the National Air and Space Museum. It is either on loan or in storage.