The Journeyman was a 5 stage sounding rocket and research vehicle consisting of 2 Recruit, 1 Sergeant, 2 Lance and 1 Altair stages.

• Launches: 8
• First Launch Date: 19 September 1960
• Last Launch Date: 30 June 1965
• Apogee: 3,000 km
• Total Mass: 6,300 kg
• Core Diameter: 0.79 m
• Total Length: 18.90 m.

During the first year of the existence of Goddard's Sounding Rocket Branch, several sounding rockets, whose development predated NASA, came into the "stable" of vehicles readily available to NASA. Among these were the D-4 and D-8, both of the so-called Argo series. "Argo" was from the name of Jason's ship in the ancient Greek myth of Jason's travels in search of the Golden Fleece, and the name of the first sounding rocket in the series. Subsequent vehicles in the series were given names also beginning with the letter "J"; the Argo D-4 and Argo D-8 were named "Javelin" and "Journeyman." The "D-4" and "D-8" designations referred to the number of stages - "D" for "four" - and to the design revision - fourth and eighth.

The Argo series was developed by the Aerolab Development Co. (later a division of Atlantic Research Corporation) under the sponsorship of NACA/NASA, with support from the Air Force Special Weapons Center, the Naval Bureau of Ordnance, and the Allegheny Ballistics Laboratory. In general, the Argos are rather large by sounding rocket standards. They were all put together from off-the-shelf military hardware, often following vehicle adaptations by Langley Research Center.

Argo D-8 Journeyman could carry 20- to 70-kilogram payloads to 1500- to 2100-kilometer altitudes. It weighed 13,938 pounds, and consisted of four stages. Stage 1 was a Thiokol TX 2-6 (XM-20) Sergeant, plus two side-mounted Thiokol XM-19 recruits. These boosters burned a solid polysulfide cast composite. Stages two and three were Grand Central Lance (XM-25) motors, burning solid polysulfide/ammonium perchlorate. The final fourth stage was an ABL X-246-A6 Altair. This stage was spin stabilized, and the bird had an overall length of 62 feet, 1 inch.

The Journeyman helped NASA gather radiation data prior to the Mercury flights and has also seen some Air Force use. It is interesting to note that the first three stages of the Journeyman were very similar to the first three stages of the five stage Sergeant used by NACA in the investigation of re-entry heat shield design in the late '50s. NASA's use of the Journeyman was discontinued in 1965 because the Sergeant first stage motor was becoming increasingly hard to get. It was replaced by the Aerobee 1500.