Nike Cajun, The Nike Ajax sounding rocket variant

The following pictures were taken in Sweden during the years of 1962-1964

Nike Ajax sounding rocket booster Hoisting Nike Cajun Booster booster Moving Nike Cajun Nike Cajun booster trailer Nike Cajun sounding rocket booster Nike Ajax sounding rocket booster

ROCKETS and HOW IT STARTED

Thomas Lindblad Professor Emeritus KTH Royal Institute of Technology Stockholm Sweden I have always been interested in rockets. Well, more in the past than now. I participated in the experiments investigating noctilucent clouds launching Nike-Cajun and Nike-Apache sounding rockets into these clouds. Here I am, at the age of 17, checking out the second stage igniter. The second stage had a star burning composite solid propellant, while the first stage was a "surplus" military ground-to-air rocket (Nike) with a heterogeneous liquid propellant.

The Nike Cajun carried 12 grenades and the time difference between registering the bangs were used to measure the temperature, The Apache carried a sampling payload and a parachute designed by the USAF.

Thomas Lindblad (age 17) next to the Nike Cajun second stage rocket
Here I am at age 17, examining the Nike Cajun second-stage igniter. See more on Professor Thomas Lindblad’s website.