NASA has successfully launched its first rocket from Australian soil in more than a quarter of a century.
- The sub-orbital rocket blasted off from the newly constructed Arnhem Space Centre on the edge of the Northern Territory on June 27.
- The Arnhem Space Centre is owned and operated by a commercial operator, Equatorial Launch Australia.
- The space centre is located on the land of the Gumatj people, who as the traditional custodians of the land, have been consulted as part of the launch approval process.
- This is the first time NASA has conducted a rocket launch from a commercial facility outside the U.S.
- Scientists hope it will help them study the impact of a star’s light on the habitability of nearby planets.
- The sounding rocket’s tenure in space was also short – the 13m-long projectile fell back to Earth after a planned 15 minutes. But experts believe the data gathered in that time will help illuminate the secrets of star constellations 430 million light years away.
- The Arnhem Space Centre is the first and only commercially owned and run equatorial launch site in the world.
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