Ping-Pong was a battlefield reconnaissance rocket developed by Lockheed-California – later the Lockheed Missiles and Space Company – for use by the United States Army.
Intended to give battlefield commanders the ability to gain photographic data on enemy locations, it reached the flight-test stage before being cancelled.
[3] A cruciform fin arrangement provided stabilization; the fins were mounted on a sliding assembly, allowing them to shift to the opposite end of the rocket's body when the retrorocket was fired to reverse the rocket's direction for the return flight.
[1] Flight testing of Ping-Pong took place at Rosamond Dry Lake in California during the second half of 1964.
[1] The tests were considered to be successful,[4] with the rocket being reported as "the free world's only round-trip ballistic missile";[5] however, follow-up studies did not result in further development.