The Sparta was a three-stage rocket that launched Australia's

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

 first Earth satellite, WRESAT

WRESAT

WRESAT was the name of the first Australian satellite. It was named after its designer....

, on 29 November 1967.

Sparta used a surplus American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Redstone

Redstone (rocket)

The PGM-11 Redstone was the first large American ballistic missile. A short-range surface-to-surface rocket, it was in active service with the U.S. Army in West Germany from June 1958 to June 1964 as part of NATO's Cold War defense of Western Europe...

 as its first stage, an Antares as a second stage, and a BE-3 as a third stage. Several Spartas were launched from 1966–67 from Woomera Test Range

Woomera Test Range

The RAAF Woomera Test Range is a weapons testing range operated by the Royal Australian Air Force Aerospace Operational Support Group...

 in Woomera, South Australia

Woomera, South Australia

The town, or village, of Woomera is located in the south east corner of the Woomera Prohibited Area ; colloquially known as the Woomera Rocket Range...

 as part of a joint United States–United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

–Australian research program aimed at understanding re-entry phenomena, and the U.S. donated a spare for the scientific satellite launch into polar orbit

Polar orbit

A polar orbit is an orbit in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited on each revolution. It therefore has an inclination of 90 degrees to the equator...

.