NASA

NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. , At this site in 1993 the NASA's IV&V Program was established as part of an Agency-wide strategy to provide the highest achievable levels of safety and cost-effectiveness for mission critical software., IV&V , Independent Verification and Validation , NASA's IV&V Program was founded under the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance (OSMA) as a direct result of recommendations made by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident., This NIKE-ORION Sounding Rocket was launched from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility located on the coast of Virginia., Sounding Rockets are Sub-Orbital rockets that carry payloads above the Earth's atmosphere for a period of 15 minutes., This rocket is comprised of two solid fueled rocket motors and a payload section. Utilizing these two motors, the rocket can reach altitudes between 90km and 190km carrying a payload capacity between 65kg and 204kg., Experiments conducted using sounding rockets provide a variety of information on the upper atmosphere, the Sun, stars, galaxies and other planets., The rocket was donated by the Wallops Flight Facility to the NASA IV&V facility in 2003