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Aerial view of the coastal launch range of Wallops Flight Facility, showing a blue Atlantic Ocean on the right; white buildings along a tan coastline back up to a green, marshy landscape
A large group of people, some holding up cellphones, watches the Antares rocket launching in the distance.
A scientific balloon is partially inflated in the shape of a teardrop in front of a bright orange sunset.

Wallops Flight Facility

NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility provides agile, low-cost flight and launch range services to meet government and commercial sector needs for accessing flight regimes worldwide from the Earth’s surface to the moon and beyond. 

Learn More About Wallops about Wallops Flight Facility

Location

Wallops Island, Virginia

Founded

May 7, 1945

People

1,100+

Director

David Pierce

NASA Rockets to Fly Through Flickering, Vanishing Auroras

Two NASA rocket missions are taking to the Alaskan skies in hopes of discovering why some auroras flicker, others pulsate, and still others are riddled with holes.

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Latest Wallops News

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NASA Rockets to Fly Through Flickering, Vanishing Auroras

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NASA Wallops to Support January Sounding Rocket Launch

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NASA Scientific Balloon Flights to Lift Off From Antarctica

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NASA, Peru Agree to Study Potential Sounding Rocket Campaign

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U.S. Navy Fleet Training Launch to be Conducted at NASA Wallops

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Wallops Launch Schedule

Check out the latest launches supported by Wallops.

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A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket, with the company’s Cygnus spacecraft onboard, launches at 6:01 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 2021, from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad-0A, at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

What We Do at Wallops

Wallops provides many different suborbital platforms for science and technology research.

Sounding rocket launching from its pad with a plume of white smoke underneath against a blue sky.

Sounding Rockets

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A scientific balloon, clear and in the shape of an upside down teardrop, is partially inflated before launch. A mountain with light clouds is in the background.

Scientific Balloons

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An airplane stands in front of a sunset sky

Airborne Science

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MinXSS CubeSat deployment from ISS with the Earth in the background.

SmallSat Support

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A large control room with wide screen of monitors with different views. There are three rows of desks, all with monitors at each station. There is another row of desks with monitors toward the bottom of the image. People are stationed throughout the control center.

Launch Range

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The Antares rocket launches from Pad 0A with a plume of white smoke underneath, with a large water tower to the right. Marsh grass is seen in the foreground.

Commercial Resupply Missions

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Visit Wallops

Explore exhibits of spacecraft and technology at the Wallops Visitor Center in Wallops Island, Virginia.

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NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center sounding rocket display.

Goddard Facilities

Goddard Space Flight Center

Goddard Institute for Space Studies

Katherine Johnson IV&V Facility

White Sands Test Facility

Scientific balloon, which is a clear, upside down teardrop shade, with a long tube leading to it being used to inflate it.

Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility

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Wallops Flight Facility

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History

75 Years of Exploration and Technology Development

Since its first rocket launch on June 27, 1945

Wallops has grown from a small test range for guided missile research to supporting aerospace and science exploration and technology development world-wide as NASA’s premier location for suborbital and small orbital activities.

Wallops History about 75 Years of Exploration and Technology Development
A black and white image of a small rocket taking off from a stand on a beach. The rocket is blurry, launching into the left side of the image with a small white flame behind it. A small stand is in the center of the image, with some vegetation behind it.
The first rocket launch conducted on Wallops Island June 27, 1945.
NACA

Information for the Wallops Island Area Residents

Aerial image of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility main base, with two long air strips with buildings surrounding it.

Latest on PFAS at Wallops

Wallops, in collaboration with local, state, and federal agencies, is conducting testing of the facility's groundwater monitoring and drinking water wells for the presence of PFAS.

Multiple E-2 planes lined up on a runway.

Field Carrier Landing Practice at Wallops

The U.S. Navy's Field Carrier Landing Practice (FCLP) at Wallops provides naval aviators critical, real-world training before landing on an aircraft carrier.

A drone in flight against blue skies.

Drone Guidance for Launches

Drone operators are being urged to exercise caution if using their aircraft to view the Antares rocket launch and avoid flying over the public and NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility property.

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