Video: Student experiments launched aboard NASA rocket

NASA successfully launched a Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying student experiments at 6 a.m. EDT, Thursday, from Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

More than 200 middle school and university students and instructors participating in “Rocket Week” at Wallops.

The launch was part of the RockOn and RockSat-C programs designed to teach students skills required to develop experiments for suborbital rocket flight. In addition, middle school educators through the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers are learning about applying rocketry basics in their curriculum.

The payload flew to an altitude of 71.4 miles and descended by parachute into the Atlantic
Ocean off the coast of Wallops where it was recovered and returned.

Three short-range missiles launched from Virginia for military test

The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) and sailors aboard the USS Carney, USS Gonzalez, and USS Barry successfully completed a flight test involving the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) weapon system.

At approximately 2:30 a.m. EST Tuesday, three short-range ballistic missile targets were launched near simultaneously from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Va. Two Aegis BMD destroyers acquired and tracked the targets. The Aegis BMD ships conducted simulated Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) Block IB guided missile engagements with the distributed weighted engagement scheme (DWES) capability enabled. The DWES provides an automated engagement coordination scheme between multiple Aegis BMD ships that determines which ship is the preferred shooter, reducing duplication of BMD engagements and missile expenditures while ensuring BMD threat coverage.

No SM-3 guided missiles were launched, the test did not include an attempted intercept.

This test was designated Flight Test Other-19. This was the first flight test to assess the ability of the Aegis BMD 4.0 weapon system to simulate engagements of a raid consisting of three short-range, separating ballistic missile targets. This was also the first time Aegis BMD 4.0 ships used the DWES capability with live targets.

The MDA will use test results to improve and enhance the Ballistic Missile Defense System and support the advancement of Phase 2 of the Phased Adaptive Approach for missile defense in Europe to provide protection of U.S. deployed forces, our European allies and partners.

Aegis BMD is the naval component of the MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System.

NASA renews launch site services contract at Virginia spaceport

NASA intends to award a five-year contract to the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority (VCSFA) for launch site services supporting missions conducted from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) in Virginia. [Full story]

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Three rockets scheduled for launch from Virginia coast

Three Terrier-Orion suborbital rockets are scheduled for launch between 1 and 5 a.m. EST Tuesday for the Department of Defense from NASA's launch range on Wallops Island, Va.

At the request of Department of Defense project managers, no real-time status updates will be available when the rockets liftoff. “The launch will not be shown live on the Internet nor will launch status updates be provided on social media once the countdown begins,” NASA said in a statement on Friday. “The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for viewing the launch.”

The three rockets, which will be launched within a 20-second period, may be visible to residents in the mid-Atlantic region.

The backup launch days are Wednesday through Saturday.

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