Wallops Flight Facility facts for kids

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Wallops Flight Facility
Agency overview

Wallops Flight Facility insignia
Formed	1945
Preceding agencies	Pilotless Aircraft Research Station Wallops Station
Headquarters	Wallops Island, Virginia, 37°56′25″N 75°27′59″W / 37.940194°N 75.466389°W / 37.940194; -75.466389
Employees	1,400
Agency executive	David L. Pierce, director
Parent agency	Goddard Space Flight Center NASA
Website	nasa.gov/centers/wallops
Map
Wallops Flight Facility with its three separate parcels of property

NASA Wallops Flight Facility, 2010.

The Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a special place where NASA launches rockets and balloons. It's located on Wallops Island in Virginia, USA. This facility helps NASA and other government groups with their science and space missions.

At Wallops, they launch many different types of rockets. These include small "sounding rockets" that go high into the atmosphere. They also launch bigger rockets that can send things into orbit around Earth. Scientists also use Wallops to launch huge high-altitude balloons. These balloons carry scientific tools high up to study Earth's atmosphere and space. The facility also has an airport for testing research aircraft, including unmanned aerial vehicles (drones).

Since it started in 1945, Wallops has launched over 16,000 rockets! These launches help scientists learn about how airplanes, rockets, and spacecraft fly. They also help us understand more about Earth's upper atmosphere and outer space. The rockets range from tiny ones used for weather to large ones that go into orbit.

Wallops Flight Facility also helps the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with their science missions. Sometimes, they even help other countries or private companies. The facility has special equipment like radar and telemetry receivers. These can be moved around the world by cargo planes. This means Wallops can set up a temporary launch site almost anywhere. This helps ensure safety and collect important data during rocket launches from far-off places. About 1,400 people work at Wallops, including NASA employees, contractors, and U.S. Navy and NOAA staff.

History of Wallops Flight Facility

How Wallops Started

In 1945, before NASA existed, there was a group called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). NACA set up a rocket launch site on Wallops Island. It was called the Pilotless Aircraft Research Station. Here, they studied how things fly at very high speeds. They did this to learn more about flight, along with wind tunnel tests.

In 1958, the U.S. Congress created NASA. NASA took over NACA's research centers, including the one at Wallops. The Pilotless Aircraft Research Station then became its own separate place called Wallops Station. It reported directly to NASA Headquarters.

Changes Over Time

In 1959, NASA took over a nearby air base called Naval Air Station Chincoteague. Wallops moved its engineering and office work there. In 1974, the name changed again to Wallops Flight Center. Finally, in 1981, it became the Wallops Flight Facility and joined the Goddard Space Flight Center.

Early Space Tests

In its early years, Wallops focused on studying how things fly at very fast speeds. From 1959 to 1961, they tested parts of the Mercury program capsules at Wallops. This was NASA's first program to send humans into space. These tests used a small rocket called Little Joe. They made sure the spacecraft's parts, like the escape system and life support, worked correctly. Two monkeys, named Sam and Miss Sam, even flew on these test rockets! Both monkeys were recovered safely.

The first time something was launched into orbit from Wallops Island was on February 15, 1961. It was a satellite called Explorer IX, carried by a Scout rocket.

Lunar Mission from Wallops

On September 6, 2013, a mission called LADEE (Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer) was launched from Wallops. It went to study the Moon! This was special because it was the first time an American mission to the Moon had launched from anywhere other than Florida.

Protecting the Island

Wallops Island is slowly losing its beach, about 10 to 22 feet (3 to 7 meters) each year. This is partly because sea levels are rising. NASA has to keep adding sand to the shoreline to protect the facility. Wallops Flight Facility also has a permanent control station for NASA's RQ-4 Global Hawk drone, which is a large unmanned aircraft.

What's at Wallops?

The airspace around Wallops Flight Facility.

The Wallops Flight Facility is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. It's made up of three separate areas that cover about 6,200 acres (25 square kilometers). These areas are the Main Base, the Mainland, and the Wallops Island Launch Site.

Air Traffic Control

Wallops has its own controlled airspace. This means they have special air traffic controllers who manage flights in the area. They control the airspace around the airport and connect it to other warning areas offshore.

Buildings and Launch Pads

Wallops has several important facilities:

Runways: There are FAA-certified runways for aircraft, plus a special runway for testing drones.
Safety Services: They have crash, fire, and rescue services ready.
Rocket Storage: There are facilities to receive, check, assemble, and store rocket motors and other explosive devices safely.
Launch Sites: The Wallops Island Launch Site has six launch pads. It also has three blockhouses, which are safe control rooms for launching rockets. There are also buildings to prepare rockets for launch.

The NASA Wallops Flight Facility Range.

Tracking and Data

The Wallops Research Range has systems on the ground and mobile systems. It also has a control center.

Radar: They use radar to track rockets and other objects in the sky.
Telemetry: This involves antennas and receivers that collect data sent from rockets during flight.
Cameras: They have many still cameras, high-speed cameras, and video systems. These are used for safety, to watch launches, and to analyze what happened after a launch.
Communications: Wallops has many communication systems to send voice, video, and data. This helps with preparing for launches, during flights, and for tests.

Research Airport

The Wallops Research Airport is on the Main Base. It has three runways, two taxiways, and three ramps. One runway is special because it has different surface textures for testing how runways affect aircraft.

Weather Services

Weather is very important for all operations at Wallops, especially for rocket and balloon launches. Wallops has its own weather services. They measure weather conditions high in the atmosphere. They also have a powerful radar system called SPANDAR. This radar can track targets up to 60,000 kilometers away! It can even detect tiny raindrops or small changes in the air caused by sea breezes.

Mobile Launch Support

The NASA Wallops Mobile Range instrumentation has been deployed to support launch events in dozens of locations around the world.

Wallops has mobile equipment for tracking, radar, and command systems. These can be moved to different places around the world. This allows Wallops to set up a temporary launch site where there isn't one already. This helps ensure safety and collect data for rocket launches in remote areas. Wallops has supported rocket launches from places like the Arctic, Antarctic, South America, Africa, Europe, and Australia.

New Technology for Launches

Envisioned Future Range Architecture

Since 2001, engineers at Wallops have been working on new technologies to make launches safer and more affordable.

Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS)

One project is the Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS). This system would be on board a rocket. It would use sensors and computers to watch the rocket's path. If the rocket goes off course and becomes unsafe, the AFSS could automatically stop the flight. This could replace the need for someone on the ground to send a command to stop the rocket.

Low Cost TDRSS Transceiver (LCT2)

Another project is the Low Cost TDRSS Transceiver (LCT2). This is a less expensive radio system. It allows rockets to communicate through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS). This is useful when a rocket flies so far away that it's no longer in direct contact with the launch site.

Missions at Wallops

Launch of the Little Joe booster from Wallops Island, to test the Project Mercury capsule, 1960.

Low-Cost TDRSS Transceiver (LCT2) prototype hardware developed by WFF and schematic comparing WFF's Autonomous Flight Safety System (AFSS) to traditional (manual) flight safety system in use today

Wallops Flight Facility helps with many important missions for NASA:

Sounding Rockets: Launching small rockets that go high into the atmosphere for research.
Scientific Balloons: Sending large balloons with science tools into the sky.
Aircraft: Testing different types of aircraft.
Range and Mission Management: Managing the launch range and missions.
Small Launch Vehicle Research: Researching and developing smaller rockets.
Mission Planning Lab: Helping plan future space missions.

Wallops supports almost all of NASA's main goals, including:

Science: Studying Earth, the solar system, the universe, and the sun.
Exploration: Helping with plans for human space exploration.
Aeronautics: Researching new aviation technologies.
Space Operations: Supporting the International Space Station and other space flights.

Commercial Spaceport

In 1998, the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority built the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops. They leased land from NASA for this. In December 2006, the first rocket was launched from this commercial spaceport.

Visitor Center

NASA Visitor Center at Wallops Flight Facility

The Wallops Visitor Center is a great place to visit! It has many hands-on exhibits. Kids can explore and learn about the technologies NASA scientists use. Every week, they have educational activities and programs.

Once a month, NASA invites people who love model rocketry to launch their own rockets from the Wallops launch site. NASA staff also launch models of real rockets and explain what they do. You can find the schedule for rocket launches from Wallops on their official website.

Education Programs

For many years, Wallops hosted special projects for students called NSIP. Students could design experiments to be launched on rockets or even on a future Space Shuttle mission. This gave high school students and teachers the chance to spend a week at Wallops. They conducted experiments and learned about the facility. These programs helped inspire many young people in science.

Accidents at Wallops

Over the years, there have been a few accidents during tests or launches at Wallops.

In 1957, a Navy plane exploded after takeoff, and everyone on board was lost.
In 1995, a large rocket called Conestoga 1620 failed shortly after launch. It broke apart, and all 14 science experiments on board were lost in the ocean. This led to the end of the Conestoga rocket program.
In 1998, a Learjet plane was damaged during a test. The pilot lost control, and the plane hit a pickup truck. Luckily, only minor injuries were reported.
In 2008, a sounding rocket was intentionally destroyed shortly after launch because it veered off course.
In 2014, an Antares rocket carrying supplies for the International Space Station failed shortly after launch. Both the rocket and its cargo were destroyed at the launch pad.

These events are carefully investigated to learn what went wrong. This helps make future launches safer.

Working Together

NASA Wallops Flight Facility works with many other organizations. These partnerships are important for its missions and future growth. Some of these partners include:

Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS)
U.S. Navy Surface Combat Systems Center (SCSC)
United States Coast Guard
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Images for kids

Early research rockets at Wallops Island
Wallops flight tests of Mercury capsule escape tower and Apollo heat shield aboard a Scout
Mobile Range Systems
Launch Pads 0-A and 0-B
Mobile Telemetry System
Optical Tracking Systems
Range Control Center
Mobile system at the SvalRak launch site at Ny-Ålesund, Norway (2003)