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 i ...

. 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.

References

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External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20041212162505/http://www.astronautix.com/sites/naots.htm Accomack County, Virginia United States Navy installations