The Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station (NAOTS) was a
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
base located at , near
Chincoteague, VA, that was used as a suborbital launch site. In 1955, research rockets of the
Rockair type were launched from
F2H-2 planes based there. An altitude of 54,864 m (180,000 ft) was reached with a 70mm (2.75-in.) folded-fin aerial rocket (
FFAR) of Korean vintage. In spite of successful tests, the rockair concept never achieved the popularity of the
rockoon
A rockoon (from ''rocket'' and ''balloon'') is a solid fuel sounding rocket that, rather than being immediately lit while on the ground, is first carried into the upper atmosphere by a gas-filled balloon, then separated from the balloon and ign ...
. Apparently no important scientific rocket research was carried out with rockaires, in contrast to the hundreds of rockoons fired during the 1950s.
NASA History SP-4401 - NASA Sounding Rockets, 1958-1968: A Historical Summary, Chapter 4
/ref>
In 1959, NASA acquired NAOTS and parts of the station were incorporated into the Wallops Island
Wallops Island is a island in Accomack County, Virginia, part of the Virginia Barrier Islands that stretch along the eastern seaboard of the United States of America. It is just south of Chincoteague Island, a popular tourist destination.
W ...
facility, later named Wallops Flight Facility
Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and approximately north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard ...
.
References
{{reflist
External links
*https://web.archive.org/web/20041212162505/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/naots.htm
Accomack County, Virginia
United States Navy installations