Cooperative Living June 2014 - 15

At left, the launch of an Air
Force Minotaur 1 rocket
from NASA's Wallops Flight
Facility in November 2013
as seen from Annapolis, Md.
Below, The Orbital Sciences
Corporation Antares rocket
on the Mid-Atlantic Regional
Spaceport (MARS) Pad-0A
at the NASA Wallops Flight
Facility, Friday, April 19,
2013, in Virginia.
Space Station. And with these newsworthy
missions under its belt, the Wallops
Flight Facility has assumed a higher
profile. While Wallops once was known
mainly for suborbital research, it now is
enjoying life on a bigger stage.
" People began paying attention to
Wallops in 2006 and 2007 when we did
the first Minotaur launches from the
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport pad, "
says Keith Koehler, Wallops news chief.
" But things really got going when
Antares gained altitude
and its pace quickened. A
white string of vapor
marked its flight, and the
rocket glowed against the
blue sky like a bright
morning star. Even as the
roar ended and the vapor
trail wavered on the
breeze, Antares continued
to glow as it left the Earth
many miles behind, beginning
its journey to the
International Space
Station.
A few people on the
viewing platform had seen
rocket launches before, but
for many of us, it was our
first time witnessing the
launch of a vehicle that
would orbit the Earth.
Reading newspaper articles
and watching television
coverage can in no way
relate the excitement, awe,
and, indeed, pride in witnessing
the launch of something that is
at once powerful and precise, propelling
tons of ship and cargo into space, and
then, days later, docking with an orbiting
space station many miles away. It
would have been perfectly fitting if
WESR-FM had ended its broadcast with
our national anthem.
Rocket launches on Wallops Island
are nothing new. The first took place
shortly after the end of World War II in
1945, and there have been more than
16,000 since then. But only in the past
few years has Wallops branched out,
sending unmanned vehicles to study the
atmosphere of the moon, and launching
supply missions to the International
June 2014/www.co-opliving.com
Orbital Sciences Corp. was selected for
the NASA Commercial Orbital
Transportation Services (COTS) program
and Commercial Resupply
Services contract. Last year they tested
the Antares rocket in April, and in
September moved forward with the
cargo-supply mission to the
International Space Station. In
September we also launched the first
interplanetary mission of the Lunar
Atmosphere and Dust Environment
Explorer (LADEE) aboard an Air Force
Minotaur V rocket. It was a spectacular
nighttime launch and it was watched by
thousands of people along the MidAtlantic
coast. "
The emergence of the Wallops Flight
Facility and the Mid-Atlantic Regional
Spaceport as a major player in America's
commercial space program has brought
an economic boost to northern
Accomack County and the southern
portion of Maryland's Eastern Shore.
The Virginia Commercial Space Flight
Authority developed and oversees the
spaceport at Wallops. The executive
director of the authority, Dale K. Nash,
told the Chincoteague Chamber of
Commerce in March that the total cost
of new development at Wallops was
$145 million. Most of that was spent on
construction of launch pad OA, from
which the Antares rocket was launched.
The pad cost $120 million to build and
took 3½ years to construct. The pad
was completed in February 2013, a 30second
" hot fire " test was passed, and
six months later the Antares rocket and
Cygnus spacecraft were hauling supplies
to the International Space Station.
The Wallops Flight Facility has created
jobs, but the economic impact goes
beyond that. " Over the past year, we've
been on the cover of just about everything, "
says Keith Koehler. " We gave
out media credentials to 75 to 90 members
of the press for the Antares resupply
launch, and we had more than 500
invited guests. Launches definitely bring
people to the area. Our visitor center is
busy, even during what usually is the
offseason in winter. We've gotten a lot of
attention. Any time there is a major
launch it brings in a crowd. It's difficult
to do an exact count because people are
spread out all over the Eastern Shore.
There are any number of good viewing
sites. "
13
PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA/ED CAMPION
PHOTO COURTESY OF NASA/BILL INGALLS
Cooperative Living June 2014

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