Students from Ocean Lakes High School in Virginia Beach will launch a 13-foot rocket at NASA Wallops Flight Facility between 11:30 a.m. and noon Thursday, May 30.
The rocket will carry an experimental payload to record atmospheric data. Students have calculated trajectory and optimum ascent, and plan to recover the rocket after it parachutes back to earth. This is the first in a series of launches planned by the new science and math magnet school.
Thursday’s launch culminates two months of design, construction and testing. Mentors from NASA Langley Research Center, the National Space Society and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics have assisted the 57 high school students involved in the project.
Students will arrive to Wallops at 10 a.m. They will begin assembling the rocket after a flight readiness review at the Wallops Visitor Center. Launch will take place at the Wallops Main Base.
News media wishing to cover the student launch should contact Keith Koehler, Wallops public affairs specialist, at (804) 824-1579, or Michael Finneran, head of NASA Langley’s Office of Public Affairs, at (804) 864-6121.
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Michael Finneran
(804) 864-6121