Sounding rockets, or research rockets, are data-collecting spacecraft carrying scientific instruments to conduct short experiments during sub-orbital flight. They are typically used to test and calibrate satellite and spacecraft instrumentation, and fly for less than 30 minutes. Efficient and cost-effective, sounding rockets are small enough to launch from remote or temporary sites, and their experiments can be developed in about six months.<br>Rocketry has been fundamental to LASP and CU Boulder since 1948, when LASP began as the Upper Air Laboratory (UAL). UAL was created by CU-Boulder physicists a decade before NASA to study Earth's atmosphere and develop a stabilized platform for instruments launched aboard sub-orbital rockets. UAL became LASP in 1965 and began expanding its capabilities into solar-observing spacecraft, Earth atmospheric satellites, and space and planetary sciences. However, LASP maintains its foundational expertise in rocketry, and our Rocket Program remains dynamic today with a focus on sounding rockets.