Orión was the designation of a sounding rocket of Argentina,^[1] which was launched between 1965 and 1971 at CELPA (El Chamical), CELPA (Mar Chiquita), Tartagal and Wallops Island.^[2]

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Developed by the Instituto de Investigaciones Aeronauticas y Espaciales (IIAE),^[3] Orión marked Argentina's entry into the club of space-faring nations, with a flight on 13 August 1966 that reached an apogee of 114 km surpassing the Kármán line.^[4]

The first version Orión-1 was flown twice in 1965 and 1966 from CELPA (El Chamical),^[2] in order to test the engines and technologies.

It had a length of 3.00 m (9.84 ft), a diameter of 21 cm (8.3 in) and a weight of 100-kilogram (220 lb).^[5] Apogee was 80 km (50 mi) for a 10-kilogram (22 lb) payload.^[5] Solid fuel mass was 55-kilogram (121 lb) with a burn time of 12 seconds.^[6]

• Orión-1 diagram
• Orión-1 diagram
• Orión-1 photo
• Orión-1 at the National Aeronautics Museum of Argentina

In November 1966, three tests of the updated Orión-2 took place from Wallops Island.^[1][2]

This version had a gross takeoff mass of 100 kg (220 lb) and could carry a 25-kilogram (55 lb) payload to an apogee of 160 km (99 mi).^[7] Its dimensions were 3.77 m (12.4 ft) in length and 21 cm (8.3 in) in diameter.^[7]

Orión-2 was launched 22 times from 1966 to 1971.^[7][2] Besides Wallops, launch sites included CELPA (El Chamical), CELPA (Mar Chiquita) and Tartagal.^[2]

• Orión-2 diagram
• Orión-2 O-10 on the launch ramp
• Orión-2 launch from Chamical (August 13, 1966)
• Payload recovered from Orión-2 at Wallops Island (November 1966)
• Orión-2 rockets prepared for solar eclipse observations (November 10, 1966)
• Launch preparations for Orión-2 O-14 (1967)

Table of Orión launches:^[4]