NASA sounding rocket launched from Wallops Island

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. — NASA successfully launched a sounding rocket Wednesday evening from its Wallops Flight Facility, the first launch from the site since an Antares rocket exploded shortly after liftoff Oct. 28, 2014.

The mission is designed to test new technology, with the aim of making future space missions less expensive and less risky, officials say.

The suborbital Black Brant IX sounding rocket flight will test the performance of the Black Brant motor in a two-stage configuration. Scientists also will be testing a new method of fabricating the payload that creates the most forward part in one step. The conventional machined and welded construction process is costly, adds weight and introduces more risk, according to NASA.

Orbital ATK, a private contractor that uses Wallops for International Space Station resupply missions, also will be using the vehicle to test three different materials that could prove valuable in future aerospace and defense products.

Video: Antares rocket explodes at NASA facility

The rocket also will release vapor clouds using a new ejection system. Such clouds are used to study wind in space and the ionosphere. The new system could allow researchers to study wider areas during future launches, officials say.

The vapor, which is to be released about 130 miles above the Earth, will contain a barium-strontium mixture that produces a cloud with a mix of blue-green and red colors.

On Thursday, United Launch Alliance aims to launch its second Atlas V rocket in less than a week with a blastoff planned from California's Central Coast.

The rocket is targeting a liftoff at 8:49 a.m. PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, carrying a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office.

There's a 70% chance of acceptable weather at Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex-3. The full launch window has not been disclosed, but a longer launch "period" ended at 9:30 a.m. ET.

Atlas V rocket lifts off with Mexican satellite

"We are excited and ready to take on our first Atlas launch of 2015," said Col. J. Christopher Moss, commander of the 30th Space Wing, in a statement Wednesday. "Our team and mission partners have put a lot of hard work into preparing for this important mission for our nation."

Amateur spacecraft observers speculate that the rocket is carrying a pair of satellites updating the Naval Ocean Surveillance System, or NOSS.

In addition to the primary mission, the rocket's Centaur upper stage will deliver a group of 13 experimental and student-developed CubeSats to orbit.

The tiny spacecraft include nine missions sponsored by the NRO and four by NASA. Kennedy Space Center's Launch Services Program was responsible for securing the ride for the NASA-sponsored payloads known as ElaNA-12.

A successful launch would keep ULA on track to return to Cape Canaveral for an Oct. 30 launch of the Air Force's next Global Positioning System satellite on an Atlas V. The booster for that mission was delivered to the Cape on Tuesday.

An Atlas V last Friday successfully delivered Mexico's Morelos-3 communications satellite to orbit, completing ULA's 100th launch since Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed the joint venture in December 2006.

Contributing: James Dean, Florida Today