NASA's Wallops Flight Facility: Rocket Launches from Virginia (Photos)

Welcome to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island along the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Sounded in 1945, the center is NASA's home for sounding rockets and balloon science missions. But the facility also shares space with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a private launch site for rocket missions. Take a tour of some of Wallops' facilities and see some of the site's most dazzling launches in this SPACE.com slideshow.

Sunrise at NASA Wallops

The sun rises over NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island along Virgina's Eastern Shore. The site is the launching ground for NASA's sounding rocket program.

Water and Space: NASA Sounding Rocket Launch

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. [More Sounding Rocket Launch Photos]

Four of Five ATREX Launching

Four of five sounding rockets liftoff from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility (Virginia) in this time-lapse photograph of the ATREX mission. The experiment took place on March 27, 2012, producing white clouds to study fast-moving winds high in the thermosphere. The first rocket was launched at 4:58 am EDT, with following launches occurring at 80-second intervals. [See more amazing launch photos]

NASA Wallops Flight Facility Hangar

A rocket hangar at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, a rocket launching site on Wallops Island, Va., on the U.S. East Coast.

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility Launch Control

A view inside the launch control room at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., on the U.S. East Coast.

NASA Wallops in Twilight

A water tower stands in silhouette in this view of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in twilight.

NASA Sounding Rocket: Liftoff from Wallops!

A small NASA rocket launches into suborbital space from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., in this video still from the Jan. 29, 2013 liftoff. The rocket released red lithium vapor in space to light up the night sky in a technology test. [More Sounding Rocket Launch Photos]

Minotaur Rocket to Star in Spaceport's Launch Debut

An Orbital Sciences Minotaur rocket stands poised to launch the TacSat-2 satellite in the first ever orbital space shot from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, on Dec. 12, 2006.

NASA's Wallops Flight Facility from the Air

An aerial view of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia, on the U.S. East Coast.

NASA Wallops Flight Facility Antennas

Antennas at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., on the U.S. East Coast.