NASA To Launch Rocket For Student Experiments From Wallops Island

WALLOPS ISLAND, VA — NASA is set to launch a rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Friday between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. carrying student experiments from across the United States.

Unlike previous launches, the rocket will likely be too small for residents to see the exhaust clouds north or south of the Delmarva Peninsula. The rocket might be slightly visible to residents in parts of Southern Maryland and the Northern Neck of Virginia.

The mission is called RockOn/RockSat-C, with the Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket blasting off.

The 36-foot-long two-stage rocket will carry 39 experiments measuring acceleration, humidity, pressure, temperature and radiation counts from the RockOn program, seven experiments in the RockSat-C program and about 80 small cubes with experiments developed by middle school and high school students as part of the Cubes in Space program.

“This will be the fourteenth year that the NASA Sounding Rocket Program has provided a suborbital rocket flight for undergraduate university students to fly their experiments into space," Giovanni Rosanova, chief of the NASA Sounding Rockets Program Office at Wallops, said in a statement.

"This unique project provides an opportunity for students to obtain hands-on experience in developing space-flight experiments, which is vital in developing future scientists and engineers,” Rosanova said.

The rocket will likely get about 75 miles off the ground before it falls back down to earth and into the Atlantic Ocean. At that point, NASA scientists will retrieve the student projects and data measuring devices.

NASA will have a live stream on YouTube. The live stream will begin 20 minutes before the scheduled launch time. Live coverage could begin as early 5:10 a.m., depending on weather conditions.

The Wallops Visitor Center and viewing area will not be open for this launch. The public also can watch the rocket launch from Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.