Ready for takeoff

Wallops Island, Va. — home of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport and a NASA facility — is gearing up for its turn as the next Space Coast.

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Eric Roper poses next to a Terrier-Orion sounding rocket on display at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Four NASA suborbital rockets, carrying experiments to take measurements in the ionosphere, will be launched between July 5 and July 23. Virginia is an attractive site for launches because of its proximity to the water. Officials hope to attract and expand private and commercial launches and possibly space tourism in the near future to bring jobs and money to this part of the state.

Linda Davidson / The Washington Post

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