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WALLOPS ISLAND, Va., July 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A NASA inflatable aeroshell/heat shield technology demonstrator is scheduled to launch July 21 from Virginia and splash down off the coast of North Carolina.

The demonstrator is scheduled for launch on a Black Brant XI sounding rocket from the NASA Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore between 6 and 8 a.m. and land about 20 minutes later in the Atlantic Ocean approximately 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras.

A map showing the avoidance areas for mariners is available at

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/wallops/home/marine.html

NASA researchers are working to develop a new kind of lightweight inflatable spacecraft outer shell to slow and protect vehicles as they blaze through the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3), developed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be flown on a suborbital flight test ride on a three-stage launch vehicle. The backup launch days are July 22 ? 24.

Further information on this mission, including how to view the launch on the Internet, follow the countdown on Twitter and Facebook and viewing the launch is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/wallops

Further information on the IRVE-3 is available at:

http://www.nasa.gov/hiad

SOURCE NASA