A study to determine the optimal jet conditions for maximizing altitude of the sounding rocket is conducted. The behavior of a simplified one-dimensional momentum equation including aerodynamic drag is investigated. The case where an analytic solution exists and the case where the mass flow rate is constant are calculated. The solutions are compared with numerical solutions. It is shown that there are the optimal jet conditions for maximizing altitude of a sounding rocket and the optimal condition is a function of the rocket mass ratio.