The first two flights of the Nike-Deacon sounding rocket carried a falling sphere experiment to meadure air resistance.
The first Nike-Deacon sounding launch was on April 8, 1955. This flight was to test the rocket, the sphere ejection system, and the transmitter.
At 10:19 AM, a launch signal was sent to the rocket, igniting the Nike booster, and a delay fuse for the Deacon. 3.3 seconds later, the Nike booster burned out, moving at over 2000 mph almost a mile above the Atlantic Ocean. Air resistance pulled the Nike from the slender Deacon upper stage, which coasted through the lower atmosphere. The delay fuse burned as the Deacon coasted to an altitude of nearly seven miles. 17.0 seconds after liftoff, the Deacon ignited, accelerating the payload to over 3500 mph in 3.8 seconds. 52 second after launch, the nose and sphere were ejected. The nose cone was tracked to an altitude of 67 miles, 161 seconds after launch.