(Updated) NASA launches suborbital sounding rocket with dozens of student experiments

A NASA suborbital sounding rocket was successfully launched Friday, June 24, 2022, carrying dozens of student experiments from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket lifted off at 5:35 a.m. EDT with approx. 60 experiments as part of the RockOn! and RockSat-C programs designed for students to learn and apply skills in building experiments for suborbital space flight.

The mission carried 39 experiments from the RockOn program and seven experiments in the RockSat-C program. Additionally, 80 small cubes with experiments developed by middle- and high-school students were also flown as part of the Cubes in Space program.

The student experiments flew to an altitude of nearly 70.5 miles. After descending by parachute and landing in the Atlantic Ocean, the experiments were recovered.

A sounding rocket launched at 5:35 am ET from Wallops Flight Facility carrying student experiments for the RockOn! program. The rocket reached an altitude of 70 miles. https://t.co/5DNXrgK83bThe next launch from Wallops is the RockSat-X student launched scheduled for August 9. pic.twitter.com/CHVGO150Ge

— NASA Wallops (@NASA_Wallops) June 24, 2022

Update

NASA on Sunday launched yet another suborbital sounding rocket from Equatorial Launch Australia's Arnhem Space Center in Northern Territory, Australia, carrying the X-ray Quantum Calorimeter experiment. The XQC mission will measure X-rays coming from the inner part of our galaxy.

The launch took place at 12:00am (ACST) and saw a Black Brant IX (BBIX) rocket travel over 300 kms in space to observe the Alpha Centauri A & B constellations.  

History made ✅The 1st of 3 @NASA scientific rockets has successfully launched from @ela_space Arnhem Space Centre in the NT. It’s Australia’s 1st commercial launch & NASA’s 1st from a commercial facility outside the US.This is a milestone moment for our 🇦🇺 space sector 🚀 pic.twitter.com/oVnAeRNfzH

— Australian Space Agency (@AusSpaceAgency) June 26, 2022