Aberporth
Aberporth
Credit - © Mark Wade
Type: Suborbital Launch Site. Operator: UK. Country: UK. Latitude: 52°13' N. Longitude: 4°55' W.

The Aberporth military test range is located on Cardigan Bay on the west coast of Wales. It already became associated with solid rocket tests during the Second World War. Development of surface-to-air missiles began there in 1948 and tests were made of re-entry and high-speed aircraft shapes in the 1960's. Due to the military nature of the site, the only sounding rocket launches have been to support military test operations.

Aberporth Chronology and Launch Log
  • 1959 June 29 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Failure.

  • 1959 July 7 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Failure.

  • 1959 October 22 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Failure. Leopard L2B

  • 1960 January 2 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Failure. Leopard L1B

  • 1960 January 7 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Failure. Leopard L1C

  • 1960 February 23 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L1D Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 April 29 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L1F Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 April 29 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L1E Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 May 5 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L1G Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 May 27 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L3 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 July 12 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L4 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 July 14 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook R1H Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 August 17 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Jaguar RTV. Jaguar 1 G1 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1960 November 17 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook R1I Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1961 April 26 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook R1K Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1961 July 20 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L5 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1961 August 24 - Ranger 23 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ra23 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1961 August 24 - Ranger Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1962 January 19 - Ranger 26 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ra26 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1962 November 30 - Leopard 6 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Leopard. Leopard L6 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1964 December 10 - Ranger 28 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ra28 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1965 May 12 - Lynx 4 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ly4 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1965 July 23 - Ranger 30 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ra30 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1967 July 11 - Lynx 6 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ly6 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1967 September 7 - Ranger 32 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ra32 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1969 July 3 - Lynx 5 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ly5 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1970 February 5 - Lynx 8 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ly8 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1971 January 14 11:38 - DLR AB-GR-40 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Skylark. Skylark 6 LT.1 Apogee: 7.00 km (4.30 mi).

  • 1971 January 19 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--320A Apogee: 100 km (60 mi).

  • 1971 January 21 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--322A Apogee: 100 km (60 mi).

  • 1971 January 22 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--324A Apogee: 60 km (37 mi).

  • 1971 January 26 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--326A Apogee: 61 km (37 mi).

  • 1971 January 28 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--328A Apogee: 57 km (35 mi).

  • 1971 February 4 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--330A Apogee: 62 km (38 mi).

  • 1971 February 8 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--332A Apogee: 62 km (38 mi).

  • 1971 February 10 - Aeronomy mission Launch Vehicle: Skua. Skua M--334A Apogee: 62 km (38 mi).

  • 1971 June 22 - Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ori23 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1971 July 3 - Lynx 7 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook IIIA Ly7 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1972 June 22 - Badger 5 Test mission Launch Vehicle: Rook. Rook Ba5 Apogee: 20 km (12 mi).

  • 1972 July 20 - UK SL1183 (Dummy R) Test mission Launch Vehicle: Skylark. Skylark 6 SL1183 Apogee: 5.00 km (3.10 mi).

Bibliography and Further Reading
  • McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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© Mark Wade, 1997 - 2007 except where otherwise noted.
  
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