Lebanon Had A Private Space Program In the 60s

Fascinating:

At a time when the global focus was on space exploration, 25-year-old Manougian decided to harness this excitement […] Gathering together a group of like-minded students, he formed a small rocketry society and began to experiment with solid rocket fuels at a farm belonging to the family of one of the students. By April 1961, they were ready to launch their first rocket, an event that garnered a good deal of attention. The Lebanese military became involved, and the enterprise expanded to become the Lebanese Rocket Society.