- Sounding rockets are one- or two-stage solid-propellant rockets employed to explore the upper atmosphere as well as carry out space research.
- Sounding rockets enabled the use of rocket-borne instrumentation to probe the atmosphere in situ.
- The first rockets were two-stage Russian (M-100) and French (Centaure) rockets. ISRO began launching indigenously built sounding rockets in 1965.
- The first sounding rocket was launched in 1963 from Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram, marking the beginning of the Indian Space Programme.
- The Rohini Sounding Rocket (RSR) Programme consolidated all sounding rocket activities in 1975.