Sounding Rockets
For over 40 years the Sounding Rocket Program has provided critical scientific, technical, and educational contributions to the nation’s space program and is one of the most robust, versatile, and cost-effective flight programs at NASA.
Types of Sounding Rockets
Sounding rockets are small, low-cost flight opportunities to suborbital space.
Sixteen different sounding rocket vehicles, ranging from a single-stage Orion to a four-stage Black Brant XII, are available to support science research between 100 to 1400 kilometers into the atmosphere.
Launch Locations
Sounding rockets go to where the science is
Sounding rockets are launched worldwide from both permanent and remote launch ranges. NASA supports remote launch locations with mobile range assets, supporting missions wherever the science is needed.
Student Missions
NASA supports numerous programs that provide community college, undergraduate, and graduate students the opportunity to build and fly an experiment.
These opportunities include flying experiments on sounding rockets, lofting on scientific balloons, and student airborne research flight opportunities.
Sounding Rockets
Vapor Tracers
First used with sounding rockets flown in the 1950s, scientific research with experiments which inject vapor tracers in the upper atmosphere have greatly aided our understanding of our planet’s near-space environment.
Learn More about Vapor Tracers
