Every spring in Palestine, Texas, the wide-open fields around NASA’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility fill with students and faculty from across Louisiana. They arrive carrying sensors, laptops, and carefully engineered payloads they have spent months preparing. The goal is to send their experiments to the edge of space and return with meaningful data, while reflecting […]
Category: Wallops Flight Facility
NASA Sounding Rocket to Launch Student Experiments
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia is scheduled to launch a sounding rocket carrying student-developed experiments for the agency’s RockSatX and RockOn programs Wednesday, June 24, between 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. EDT, with a backup day on Thursday, June 25. The RockSat and RockOn programs provide technical training and hands-on experiences that prepare and equip […]
NASA to Showcase Mission to Boost Swift Spacecraft’s Orbit
Media are invited to NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia on Wednesday, June 17, to view Northrop Grumman’s Pegasus XL rocket, carrying a Katalyst robotic spacecraft that will attempt to boost the orbit of NASA’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Katalyst’s robotic servicing spacecraft, called LINK, will launch on Pegasus in June to rendezvous with Swift […]
NASA Wallops to Host Public Information Session May 13
To facilitate discussion and information sharing on activities at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a public information session is being held 4–6 p.m., Wednesday, May 13, at the NASA Wallops Visitor Center. During the event, NASA will have information booths on the status on the causeway bridge construction, updates on beach replenishment, and a representative from the GLOBE program. Federal and state health experts will […]
NASA Wallops Supports First Rocket Lab HASTE Launch of 2026
NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility supported a Rocket Lab HASTE suborbital launch from the company’s Launch Complex 2 in Virginia on Feb. 27, 2026. The mission, called Cassowary Vex, supported a flight of a hypersonic test platform for the Department of War’s Defense Innovation Unit. The NASA Wallops launch range supported by providing services such as tracking, telemetry, and range safety […]
NASA, OPM Launch NASA Force to Recruit Top Talent for US Space Program
The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and NASA announced NASA Force on Wednesday, a dedicated talent track within the US Tech Force initiative designed to recruit and deploy the nation’s top engineers and technologists to support America’s space program. NASA Force will identify and place high-impact technical talent into mission-critical roles supporting NASA’s exploration, […]
NASA Awards Launch Range Contract for Wallops Flight Facility
NASA has selected ARES Technical Services Corporation of McLean, Virginia, to provide launch range operations support at the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The Wallops Range Contract has a total potential value of $339.8 million with a one-year base period expected to begin Tuesday, Feb. 10, and four one-year option periods that if exercised […]
NASA’s DiskSat Technology Demo Launches to Low Earth Orbit
NASA’s DiskSat technology demonstration mission will test the performance of a new small spacecraft platform designed to expand the capabilities of current small spacecraft. By demonstrating the advantages of a flat, disk-shaped architecture over the conventional CubeSat design, DiskSat aims to enable lower-cost space missions, broaden scientific opportunities, and increase overall access to space. At […]
NASA to Launch SNIFS, Sun’s Next Trailblazing Spectator
July will see the launch of the groundbreaking Solar EruptioN Integral Field Spectrograph mission, or SNIFS. Delivered to space via a Black Brant IX sounding rocket, SNIFS will explore the energy and dynamics of the chromosphere, one of the most complex regions of the Sun’s atmosphere. The SNIFS mission’s launch window at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico opens on Friday, July 18.