Navy Viking sounding rocket was first important US indigenous sounding rocket. It was eventually developed into the Vanguard satellite launcher.

• Viking rocket project begun.

  Reaction Motors began design and development of rocket engine for the Navy Viking sounding rocket.

• Viking 1

  Upper-air pressures and temperatures; earth photography research. Engine cut-out after 55 seconds. Launched at 0914 local time. Reached 80.5 km.

• Viking 2

  Upper-air pressures and temperatures; earth photography research. Engine cut-out early after 49 seconds. . Launched at 0957 local time. Reached 52 km.

• Viking 3

  Solar and cosmic radiation; pressure-temperature; earth photography research. Veered off-course; engine cut-off at T+60 seconds. Launched at 1444 local time. Reached 80.5 km.

• Viking 4

  Cosmic radiation; upper-air pressures and temperatures research. Ship launch. Launched at 1608 local time. Reached 169 km. NRL Viking No. 4 research rocket fired from the USS Norton Sound, near Jarvis Island in the Pacific (0.2 N 161.4 W), at the intersection of the geographic and geomagnetic equators. It set an altitude record for an American single-stage rocket and was the first firing of the Viking from shipboard.

• Viking 5

  Ionosphere; solar radiation; pressure-temperature; earth photography research. Launched at 1018 local time. Reached 175 km.

• Viking 6

  Upper-air pressure, density and composition; solar radiation; ionosphere research. Fin tore loose. Launched at 0004 local time. Reached 64.8 km.

• Viking 8

  Failed on static firing. Accidentally launched during ground test. Reached 6 km.

• Viking 7

  Upper-air pressure, density; solar and cosmic radiation research. Launched at 1100 local time. Reached 219 km. A Navy Viking 7 rocket set an altitude record for single-stage rockets and reaching a speed of 6,600 kph. This was the highest flight of the original airframe design.

• Viking 9

  Solar and cosmic radiation; photography research. Ran out of fuel. Launched at 1438 local time. Reached 219 km.

• Viking 10

  Check power plant, controls, performance, and skill temperatures; upper-air pressure, density, winds, ionisation; cosmic rays; photography research. Launched at 1000 local time. Reached 219 km.

• Viking 11

  Re-entry nose-cone heat transfer experiment; photography research. Launched at 1000 local time. Reached 254 km.

• Viking 12

  Re-entry nose-cone heat transfer experiment; photography; atmosphere research. Launched at 1455 local time. Reached 232 km.

• Viking 13

  First Vanguard test; re-entry studies; not a vertical firing. Launched at 0103 local time. First test rocket in the IGY-U.S. satellite program, a one-stage NRL Viking, attained an altitude of 176 km and a speed of 6,400 kph. Viking No. 13 carried a "minitrack" radio transmitter which was ejected at 80 km and tracked.

• Viking 14

  Test of Vanguard third-stage separation and firing at altitude.Launched at 0129 local time. Reached km.

• 17 - Emme, Eugene M, Aeronautics and Astronautics: An American Chronology of Science and Technology in the Exploration of Space 1915-1960, NASA, 1961. HTML when accessed: http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/timeline.html