Black Brant XII Launch
The four-stage Black Brant shown here blasting off from a launch pad at the Wallops Island Flight Facility in rural Virginia is at 66 feet (20 meters), the tallest of NASA's 13 sounding rockets. These rockets can carry scientific payloads of various weights up to 1,213 lbs (550 kg) to altitudes from 30 miles (48 km) to more than 800 miles (1,287 km). Researchers like to use sounding rockets because they offer an inexpensive means for conducting space, microgravity and Earth science research and have proven to be invaluable test beds for new technologies. The Wallops facility conducts about 35 launches per year.
Credit: NASA
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Black Brant XII Launch
The four-stage Black Brant shown here blasting off from a launch pad at the Wallops Island Flight Facility in rural Virginia is at 66 feet (20 meters), the tallest of NASA's 13 sounding rockets. These rockets can carry scientific payloads of various weights up to 1,213 lbs (550 kg) to altitudes from 30 miles (48 km) to more than 800 miles (1,287 km). Researchers like to use sounding rockets because they offer an inexpensive means for conducting space, microgravity and Earth science research and have proven to be invaluable test beds for new technologies. The Wallops facility conducts about 35 launches per year.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: