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NASA Successfully Launches Suborbital Rocket from Wallops

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Credits: NASA / Patrick Black

NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments with the RockOn/RockSat-C programs at 6:06 a.m., June 24, 2016.

More than 200 middle school, high school, community college and university students and instructors participating in Rocket Week at Wallops were on hand to witness the launch.

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Credits: NASA / Patrick Black

Through RockOn and RockSat-C students are learning and applying skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight. In addition, high school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers (WRATS) are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum.

The payload flew to an altitude of 74 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Wallops.  Payload recovery is in progress.

The next launch from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility is a Terrier-Improved Malemute suborbital sounding rocket currently scheduled between 6 and 10 a.m., August 16. The rocket will be carrying the RockSat-X education payload.

Participating RockSat-X schools include Capitol Technology University, Laurel, Maryland; Cartha College, Kenosha, Wisconsin; Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho, the University of Hawaii Community College System; University of Nebraska, Lincoln; University of Puerto Rico; and Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg.

For more information on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/wallops

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Keith Koehler
keith.a.koehler@nasa.gov
757-824-1579