Retired series of French liquid-fuelled sounding rockets whose development set the stage for the Ariane booster. Development began at Vernon, France, in 1949 and was based on the German V2 rocket. The first full-scale test rocket (Veronique N) was launched 11 times from May 1952 to April 1953, in three series of tests. The failure rate was significant and the altitude achieved (65 km) was insufficient. After a series of modifications, a new and lighter version (Veronique AGI) was created that could reach an altitude of 210 km. Of the 48 Veronique AGI rockets launched between 1959 and 1969, about 80% of them were successes. Two final modified versions (Veronique 61 and 61M) were then created; a total of 22 Veronique 61 rockets, three in basic configuration and 19 in the 61M version, were launched between 1964 and 1975, with a 90% success rate.