This year we are able to offer tours of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility and of the launch location on Wallops Island. The tour will include the F-10 Sounding Rocket Integration Building, Range (mission) control; the balloon manufacturing facility, RocketLab and NASA's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport where the rockets are launched on Wallops Island, Virginia. The tour will last approximately 3.5 hours.
There are no washrooms available on Wallops Island.

Due to limited staffing at NASA WFF because of launch preparation operations, we are only able to offer two tours. You may enter your name into the ticket lottery for a chance to purchase a ticket for this tour. Only Cubes in Space students and educators with a valid RocketFest ticket will be are eligible to sign up for the lottery to attend a tour. A total of 50 tickets will be available. Currently we are waiting to be informed about the number of foreign nationals that may attend this tour. There will also be a wait list in case of cancellations.

Complete this LOTTERY ENTRY FORM by 26 May for US citizens and by 12 May 2023 for foreign nationals (non-US citizens) to enter your name or your student’s/child’s name in the lottery. For foreign nationals, we will contact you to obtain information we need to provide to NASA, as we must make selections at least 40 days prior to the tour. Live and recorded lottery selections for US citizens will occur on 30 May 2023. Time TBD. For lottery winners, you will have 72 hours to purchase your ticket otherwise we select someone from the waitlist. We will contact you with specific instructions for ticket purchase.

Have you wanted to build and launch a model rocket but were intimidated by the process? Well guess what? We have a workshop session for that! Come join us on Tuesday, 20 June 2023 for an action-packed, totally hands-on workshop led by Frank Peri, Chief Engineer for SSAI and former Director of NASA’s Safety and Mission Assurance Directorate. Mr. Peri will guide participants through the model rocket-building and launch process. Learn the basics of engineering principles, build the rocket and integrate the motor, design the outside of your payload bay, and test your vehicle’s performance on Thursday at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center directly after the SR-9 launch.

A total of 24 model rocket kits will be distributed in the workshop. Up to two people can work on a rocket. For example, a parent and student, or two friends, or siblings can attend the workshop and build a model rocket unit together.

In this 3-hour workshop, participants receive a comprehensive introduction to the Individual Onboard Nanocomputer (ION+) hardware that WILL be flown on the CiS Research Balloon-8 (RB-8) payload aboard NASA’s Balloon Program Office - Test Flight Mission in August 2023. Students will leave the workshop with three key take-aways; skills like learning how to solder, the instructional content and their ION+ kits. These kits contain all of the materials and components necessary to acquire technology development knowledge and skills by students writing simple software code, building, testing and flying microcomputer hardware to collect atmospheric and environmental data on the CiS RB-8 mission. After the workshop, students will participate in a self-guided short-course and gain an authentic learning experience to discover how engineering skills and design principles enable scientific space exploration and research. ION+ units must be ready for integration and sent to the Cubes in Space team no later than 20 July 2023. Post-flight, ION+ units will be returned to students for testing and analysis.

*A total of 15 ION+ test flight hardware will be distributed in the workshop. Up to two people can work on an ION+ unit. For example, a parent and student, an educator and student, two friends, or siblings can attend the workshop and build an ION+ flight hardware unit together.

Educators will meet with Amber Agee-DeHart, Founder and Director of Cubes in Space, to share their experiences, provide feedback about the program, and make suggestions for things they would like incorporated in future programming. We are all in this together, and we are sure there are great stories to share!

Kids of all ages will use their imaginations and creativity while learning the fundamentals of space mission design! By answering simple question prompts; who, what, when, where, how, and why, participants will be able to design and tell the story of their space mission. Participants will also select from fun graphics of space environments, vehicles, instruments and explorers in the design of their mission promo poster. Great for families and kids (space cadets)!

Kids of all ages will use their imaginations and creativity to design and build enabling technologies out of common materials so an alien creature could survive in different and changing hostile environments in space or on other planets or moons. Participants will share their creatures and get to keep their designs. For anyone but especially great for families and kids (space cadets)!

Applications to college or university have become increasingly more complex, difficult and frustrating. What are the questions one should ask in choosing a university or college to which to apply? Learn what is involved in the process and what to do when your child has their sights set on a specific university. If you are about to embark on this life-changing - and potentially expensive journey - join this engaging discussion and also have your questions answered.

What are the decisions to be made to make a rocket go as high and as far to fulfill mission requirements? Build simple paper rockets, change variables such as fin shape or mass, and launch your rockets to land on a target. Engineering does not have to be complicated, and it can be done with simple items. Earn your “Rocket Scientist” badge and leave this workshop even smarter than you are now. Perfect for learners of all ages!