to order course corrections when none were needed. The rocket went off course when its first stage steering mechanism ran out of hydraulic fluid and became inoperable. After this failure, the Conestoga program was terminated, and EER abandoned the launch business. At the time of the launch, the Conestoga was the largest rocket ever launched from Wallops Island, and it was the first orbital mission attempted from the facility since 1985. The company's launch pad at Wallops Island were the first commercially built facilities in the US. 14 scientific experiments, some of which were planned to return from orbit, were destroyed. All debris landed in the Atlantic Ocean. There were no injuries. On October 27, 1998 a Learjet 45 was destroyed at Wallops after a loss of control during a water ingestion test flight. Only minor injuries to a copilot and flight engineer were reported. There were no ground injuries. The airplane was being used to test a new nose wheel tire. For the test, the airplane was passed through a "pool" or "trough" of water on the runway at different speeds. The pilot failed to obtain/maintain alignment with the water pool and lost control. The plane departed the left side of the runway, and struck a pickup truck parked adjacent to the runway. On August 22, 2008, an ALV X-1 sounding rocket was intentionally destroyed 20 seconds into flight after veering too far off course. On October 28, 2014, a failure occurred in an Antares rocket, carrying Cygnus CRS Orb-3, shortly after launch and destroyed both the rocket and the payload at the adjacent Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Launch Pad 0A. Alliances The NASA Wallops Flight Facility has alliances with a number of organizations important to its mission and future growth. Some examples include: Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) U.S. Navy Surface Combat Systems Center (SCSC) Navy Test and Training Ranges U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 45, Eastern Range U.S. Coast Guard National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) Marine Science Consortium (MSC) White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) It has also worked with the National Security Agency in experiments involving ionized clouds for communications interception during the Cold War Image gallery See also List of space companies and facilities in Virginia References Further readingWallops Station and the Creation of an American Space Program, by Harold D. Wallace (NASA History Series) (Paperback). .