Wallops Island

Related Category: U.S. Physical Geography

(wäl´ləps), island, 6 sq mi (15.5 sq km), Accomack co., E Va., off the Atlantic coast of the Delmarva pensinsula S of Chincoteaque island. NASA has a facility there and on the neighboring mainland; the island is one of the oldest rocket launch sites (est. 1945) in the world. Launches are primarily of sounding rockets.