CADRE Black Brant

The Black Brant is a type of Canadian-built rocket that has been used for scientific research since the late 1950s. These rockets, called sounding rockets, are designed to carry scientific instruments high into the Earth's atmosphere to study things like space weather, the aurora, and atmospheric conditions.

The first Black Brant rocket was launched in 1959 from a research site in Canada, but by the early 1960s, NASA also began testing them in the United States. In 1961 and 1962, several Black Brant rockets were launched from Wallops Flight Facility, a NASA launch site in Virginia.

One of the most important events happened on June 15, 1962, when a new version of the rocket, the Black Brant III, was tested for the first time at Wallops. However, this test – along with two others on June 19 and June 28, 1962 – failed. It wasn’t until December 13, 1962, that the Black Brant III had a successful flight.

Even though there were early failures, these tests helped scientists and engineers improve the Black Brant rocket. Over time, it became one of the most reliable and widely used research rockets in the world. It continues to be used today for scientific missions that help us understand Earth's upper atmosphere and space.