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Wallops Flight Facility

Launch updates from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Fourth Balloon of NASA Scientific Balloon Campaign Launches

A scientific balloon partially inflated before flight. The balloon is clear plastic in the shape of an upside down teardrop. The rest of the ballon trails behind it on the ground.
The BOOP! scientific balloon mission is prepared for flight Sept. 13, 2026.
NASA/Todd Lankford

The BOOP! mission was launched on a scientific balloon from NASA’s launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, at 8:03 a.m. MDT (10:03 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 13, 2026. This is the second year for NASA’s Balloon Program Office’s Balloon Optimization Opportunity Payload, or BOOP!, which allows multiple technology instruments to be tested during flight for future missions.  The mission carried experiments to test compact tools for future planetary exploration, map high-energy space radiation, and evaluate a newly developed flight camera system.

The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of around 123,000 feet, and flew for a total of 4 hours, 29 minutes. 

NASA Goddard Digital Lead

NASA’s HASP Scientific Balloon Launches from Fort Sumner

The HASP mission was launched on a scientific balloon from NASA's launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, at 8:05 a.m. MDT (10:05 a.m. EDT). The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of around 122,000 feet and flew for a total of 6 hours, 45 minutes.

This year’s campaign marks the 20th flight for the High-Altitude Student Platform carrying payloads developed by student teams. Over the course of two decades, more than 1,900 students from about 25 institutions across the United States have participated in flying experiments on the balloon platform.

The High-Altitude Student Platform program is a partnership among the Louisiana Space Grant Consortium, the Astrophysics Division in the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, and the agency’s Balloon Program Office and Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine, Texas. 


Second NASA Balloon Mission Launches from Fort Sumner

The CLIC 2 mission was hand launched on a scientific balloon from NASA's launch facility in Fort Sumner, New Mexico, at 7:16 a.m. MDT (9:16 a.m. EDT). The balloon is the second flight for the Compact Large-sensor Imaging Camera mission, carrying a small camera system that can process images in real-time to help determine safe landing spots for rovers for future Moon or Mars missions. The balloon and payload reached a float altitude of around 126,000 feet, and flew for a total of 3 hours, 41 minutes.