Seeing the radar array and runway at Wallops Island is always a little jarring. It's on the road to Chincoteague, and it's hard to reconcile the high-tech operations at Wallops with the 'back-in-time' vibe of Chincoteague and the ponies.

The base is a major support and research center for NASA and home of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS, for short. Gotta love the sense of humor of space-techno geeks!). According to its web site it's a " "one stop shopping" place for low cost, safe, reliable, user friendly space launch facilities and services for commercial, government and scientific/academic users, both foreign and domestic. " The Wal-Mart of Space!

There's a regular schedule of rocket and balloon launches, radar telemetry tests, and all sorts of other airborne scientific experiments going on there. Some of the local residents hold barbeques to coincide with launches, kind of Trekkie tail gating. (http://sched.wff.nasa.gov/wffsched/)

The Wallops Island NASA Visitor Center showcases all of the activities, equipment, experiments, and discoveries. It's designed to provide something for all ages, which is great for families. Probably the coolest exhibit is "Science on a Sphere." 3D visual effects are projected onto a 6-foot diameter globe suspended from the ceiling, like a planet floating in space. You can see images of Mother Earth and the moon and storms on the planet Jupiter. There's a moon rock -- which probably doesn't impress today's kids, but for those of us who watched the landings, it's an amazing artifact. The kids (and parents) line up to play with the interactive computer programs that let them fly their own rocket and play with NASA launch vehicles. Outside, there are full-scale rockets and aircraft used at Wallops.

During the winter, the visitor center is open Mon-Fri from 10-4. From March-June, it's open Thursdays through Mondays 10-4, July and August, it's open 7 days a week. It's FREE! 757-824-2298; 757-824-1344.

http://sites.wff.nasa.gov/wvc/