More than 30 university teams are launching experiments into space as part of NASA’s RockOn and RockSat-C student flight programs taking flight from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Thursday, June 22, with a launch window that opens at 5:30 a.m.
Update June 22, 2023 — Unfortunately, due to poor weather conditions on Saturday, June 24, the RockOn! student mission has been postponed. A new launch date will be determined at a later time.
Update June 21, 2023 — The launch of the RockOn! student sounding rocket mission has been rescheduled to Saturday, June 24, due to unfavorable weather on Friday. Teams will continue to evaluate the weather.
Update June 20, 2023 — The launch of the RockOn! student sounding rocket mission has been rescheduled to Friday, June 23, due to unfavorable weather and unsettled sea state during the launch window on Thursday. Teams will continue to evaluate the weather.
More than 30 university teams are launching experiments into space as part of NASA’s RockOn and RockSat-C student flight programs, taking flight from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Thursday, June 22, with a launch window that opens at 5:30 a.m.
In addition to the university payloads, some 80 additional experiments will take flight as part of the Cubes in Space program, which partners with Wallops to provide flight opportunities for students aged 11 to 18.
The experiments will fly on a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket. Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 5:10 a.m. on the Wallops YouTube site. Launch updates also are available via the Wallops Facebook and Twitter sites. The Wallops Visitor Center will be open for launch viewing opening at 4:30 a.m.
This is the 15th year that NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program has supported flight opportunities for the RockOn and RockSat-C programs, which provide students a hands-on opportunity to develop flight experiments. The programs are managed by Wallops’ Directorate Education team, which assumed responsibility of the nationwide program from the Colorado Space Grant Consortium in 2022.
“We’re thrilled to take the RockOn and RockSat-C programs into their 15th year, serving thousands of students over the years and, importantly, helping to develop a pipeline of aerospace professionals,” said Joyce Winterton, senior advisor for Education and Leadership Development at Wallops.
Along with the student flights, there are some 20 educators participating in the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers, an educator professional development program that leverages the rocket mission to enhance classroom instruction in disciplines such as math, physics, and science.
The student experiments will fly to more than 70 miles in altitude spending several minutes in suborbital space before returning to Earth where they will be recovered in the Atlantic Ocean. After recovery, the students will recover their experiments from the payload and begin data analysis.
NASA’s Sounding Rocket Program is conducted at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility, which is managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA’s Heliophysics Division manages the sounding rocket program for the agency.
University teams participating in the programs include:
RockOn
1. Langston University, OK
2. Louisiana State University and A&M College, LA
3. First Nations Launch Winners (Northern Oklahoma College, OK)
4. Shenandoah University, VA
5. University of Kentucky, KY
6. Laurel Ridge Community College, VA
7. Pellissippi State Community College, TN
8. College of the Canyons, CA
9. Norfolk State University, VA
10. Chief Dull Knife College, MT
11. Delaware State University, DE
12. Wilmington University, DE
13. Arizona State University, AZ
14. University of Louisiana at Lafayette, LA
15. Santa Monica College, CA
16. University of Scranton, PA
17. Honolulu Community College, HI
18. Morgan State University, MD
19. University of Hartford, CT
20. University of Texas at El Paso, TX
21. University of Maryland College Park, MD
22. University of Delaware, DE
23. Bridgewater State University, MA
24. Navajo Technical University, NM
25. University of Maryland Eastern Shore, MD
26. Florida International University, FL
27. Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University (Virginia Tech), VA
28. SPEID/Howard University/Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University/College of Eastern Idaho
RockSat-C
1. Clemson University, SC
2. Lincoln University, PA
3. Northwestern State University of Louisiana, LA
4. Old Dominion University, VA
5. Stevens Institute of Technology, NJ
6. Temple University, PA
7. University of Delaware, DE
Jeremy Eggers
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
jeremy.l.eggers@nasa.gov
