FalconLaunch is the name of a former small

sounding rocket A sounding rocket or rocketsonde, sometimes called a research rocket or a suborbital rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The rockets are used to ...

development program at the

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Un ...

. The program falls beneath the purview of the Academy Department of

Astronautics Astronautics (or cosmonautics) is the theory and practice of travel beyond Earth's atmosphere into outer space. Spaceflight is one of its main applications and space science its overarching field. The term ''astronautics'' (originally ''astrona ...

. The program has two basic purposes: first, to educate cadets in the practice of space

systems engineering Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design, integrate, and manage complex systems over their life cycles. At its core, systems engineering utilizes systems thinking ...

; and two, to produce a sounding rocket each year. The original technological goal of the program was to develop a light (~100 lb) sounding rocket capable of delivering a small (~5 lb) payload to the edge of space (~100 km). Senior-level cadets handle most aspects of the program. This program is similar in concept to another USAFA Astronautics program,

FalconSAT FalconSAT is the United States Air Force Academy's (USAFA) small satellite engineering program. Satellites are designed, built, tested, and operated by Academy cadets. The project is administered by the USAFA Space Systems Research Center und ...

History

2002-2003: FalconLaunch-1 2003-2004: FalconLaunch-2 2004-2005: FalconLaunch-3 2005-2006: FalconLaunch-4 2006-2007: FalconLaunch-5 2007-2008: FalconLaunch-6 - Exploded during test firing on 4 November 2009.FalconLaunch 6 test fire ends with a 'bang'
/ref> 2008-2009: FalconLaunch-7 - Test launched from the

White Sands Missile Range White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is a United States Army military testing area and firing range located in the US state of New Mexico. The range was originally established as the White Sands Proving Ground on 9July 1945. White Sands National P ...

in April 2009. It successfully delivered its payload section to an altitude of 354,724 feet, setting a world altitude record for university-built rockets. 2009-2010: FalconLaunch-8 - Scheduled for test launch in April 2010.

References

{{USAFA United States Air Force Academy Rockets and missiles