A
single stage Orion sounding rocket was launch from Wallops Island, VA
on June 27, 2008. The purpose of this mission was to to conduct a pilot
mission for the RockOn! Space Flight Workshop concept.
University faculty and students from across the country attended a workshop June 22 - 27 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island in Virginia. During RockOn!, they learned the basics of building experiments for flight on suborbital rockets.
RockOn! teams built the experiments from kits developed by students
from the Colorado Space Grant Consortium and learn about the steps and
procedures for creating payloads for flight. Each experiment package
will include a Geiger counter and sensors for measuring temperature,
acceleration and pressure. The experiments then were integrated into
payload cans for launch.
The week will culminated with the launching of the experiments early in the morning June 27 aboard a NASA Orion sounding rocket. The 20-foot tall, single-stage rocket flew to an altitude of 67 km. After launch and payload recovery, participants conducted preliminary data analysis and discussed their results.
Almost 60 people from universities in 22 states and Puerto Rico are participating in RockOn!. Eighty-percent of the participants are faculty members.
NASA's Space Grant program sponsors university-based consortia
that focus on developing our nation's future scientist and engineers,
as well as improving science, engineering and technology education.
Using the lessons learned through RockOn!, participants will work to
make flight experiments a part of the educational process at their home
institutions.
For more information on NASA education programs on the Internet, visit:
