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. During mid-1946, France embarked on development of a V-2 derivative, commonly referred to as the Super V-2. it would see the launch of nearly one hundred rockets between 1950 and 1975, the findings from which were used to improve various aspects of French rockets, including their structure and fuel composition. Data collected from the operation of the Centaure rocket would benefit not only France but also feed into the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO). The first launch at Sweden's Esrange space complex, conducted on 19 November 1966, was performed using a Centaure rocket. There was also international interest (outside of Europe) in the Centaure; during the mid-1960s, India signed an agreement with France for the domestic production of 50 Centaure rockets, which would be used for scientific purposes. Ultimately, the Centaure was the basis for India's Rohini rocket family.
During 1976, the French government, have recently reoriented its space policy, discontinued the national sounding rocket programme.
Nine scale models representing multiple rockets, including the Centaure, were built for the Musée des Arts et Métiers and displayed at the temporary exhibition L'Espace held in 1964.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Version
!Stages
!Gross mass (kg)
!Height (m)
!Diameter (m)
!Apogee (km)
|-
|Centaure
|Venus + Belier
|457
|6.02
|0.28
|140
|-
|Centaure 1
|Venus + Belier
|600
|5.9
|0.28
|130
|-
|Centaure 2A
|Venus + Belier II
|600
|5.9
|0.28
|146
|-
|Centaure 2B
|Venus + Belier II
|500
|6.3
|0.28
|146
|-
|Centaure 2C
|Venus + Belier II
|600
|5.9
|0.28
|146
|}
Launches
A large number of Centaure rockets was launched between 1961 and 1986: