The New Mexico Spaceport Authority is excited to host a NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch conducted by UP Aerospace, Inc., at the Spaceport America Vertical Launch Complex on Friday, June 21. This will be the first sub-orbital NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch, and the 19th overall launch from Spaceport America.
The sub-orbital sounding rocket launch is part of the NASA Flight Opportunities Program, which is designed to provide suborbital payload launch opportunities for NASA and other government agencies, as well as for educational institutions and the private sector. Some of the Flight Opportunities payload customers for this launch aboard the SpaceLoft (SL-7) rocket include: the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), NASA, Celestis, Inc. and various schools.
“We are very excited to have student payloads on this NASA Flight Opportunities Program launch,” said New Mexico Spaceport Authority Executive Director Christine Anderson. “Studying science and math in a classroom setting is very important but having the opportunity to see science and math-based experiments take flight is really inspiring.”
Some of the student payload experiments are part of the NASA/New Mexico Space Grant Consortium (NMSGC) Summer of Innovation Launch and Learn Program. Participating schools include: La Academia de Delores Huerta Charter Middle School of Las Cruces, NM; Cobre High School of Silver City, NM; Camino Real Middle School of Las Cruces, NM; and Hot Springs High School of Truth or Consequences, NM. Other payloads on board were developed by New Mexico State University of Las Cruces, NM, and New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology of Socorro, NM.
NMSGC is staging a private event for the students in conjunction with the UP Aerospace Launch. Please visit www.launchnm.com/for further information.
