Wallops Rocketry Academy for Teachers and Students

Michelle Hymowitz spent a week at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility learning about rocketry, building and launching model rockets, and watching an actual Sounding Rocket launch.

A "Sounding Rocket" is a rocket whose "payload" (the item being transported) is strictly research/experiments, rather than cargo. The term comes from an old naval term, sounding, which refers to dropping a lead weight on a string to measure the depth of water. Sounding now means taking a measurement.

A sounding rocket launches from Wallops. 009
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You can just hear teh noise ofa ll of the machines working as they build parts for sounding rockets.
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Crane moving across the ceiling as Berit Bland introduces our tour guide.
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This is a machine that cuts metal using water (waves). You can hear it going during this short video.
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