Photos: NASA's Small Rocket Launches of 2013 in Pictures

NASA Launches Sounding Rocket: Jan. 29, 2013

NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Terry Zaperach

NASA’s VISIONS mission launched a rocket from Alaska into the northern lights on Feb. 7, 2013, to discover the secrets of auroras.

NASA Launches Sounding Rocket: Jan. 29, 2013

NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Terry Zaperach

A NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket launches toward space on a mission to create glowing red clouds above Earth on Jan. 29, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

Ascent: NASA Sounding Rocket Soars Spaceward, Jan. 29, 2013

NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Terry Zaperach

A NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket streaks toward space on a mission to create glowing red clouds above Earth on Jan. 29, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

Ascent: NASA Sounding Rocket Soars Spaceward, Jan. 29, 2013

NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Terry Zaperach

A NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket streaks toward space to create glowing red clouds above Earth on Jan. 29, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

Ascent: NASA Sounding Rocket Soars Spaceward, Jan. 29, 2013

NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Terry Zaperach

A NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket launches toward space on a mission to create glowing red clouds above Earth on Jan. 29, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

Water and Space: NASA Sounding Rocket Launch

Courtesy of Brea Reeves / NASA/Wallops Flight Facility

A NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket roars toward space on a mission to create glowing red clouds above Earth on Jan. 29, 2013. The rocket launched from NASA's seaside Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va.

NASA VISIONS Rocket Flies Into Alaskan Aurora

Sebastian Saarloos

NASA-supported VISIONS rocket launched from Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska on Feb. 6, 2013. The rocket flew into an aurora to investigate its properties.

VISIONS: Seeing the Aurora in a New Light

NASA/Goddard/Chris Perry

On the night of Feb. 4, 2013, NASA Goddard scientists watched a lighted wind-weighting balloon launch to measure the winds and see if conditions were acceptable for a sounding rocket launch in Poker Flats, Alaska. Wind-weighting balloons help the launch team correct the rocket trajectory to make up for low level winds.

RockOn and RockSat-C Programs Experiments Launched

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

On June 20, 2013, a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket carried aloft experiments built by university instructors and students from across the country through the RockOn and RockSat-C programs conducted with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia. The launch took place at Wallops Flight Facility, Va.

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