Centaure was a two-stage French sounding rocket consisting of a Venus first stage and a Belier second stage. It belongs to a family of solid-propellant rockets consisting of the Belier, Centaure, Dragon, Dauphin, and Eridan.
It was operated by Sud-Aviation between 1961 and 1986. Centaure rockets were launched from the CIEES/Hammaguir missile range, Reggane, CELPA, Salto di Quirra, Esrange, Thumba, Sonmiani, and Andøya.
It had a maximum payload of 60 kg, an apogee of 130-146 km, a launch thrust of 44 kN, a launch weight of 500-600 kg, a diameter of 0.28 m and a length of 5.9-6.3 m.
There were various versions of Centaure rockets:
A large number of Centaure rockets was launched between 1961 and 1986: