Nonstop flight route between Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil:

About this route:

A direct, nonstop flight between Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL), Wallops Island, Virginia, United States and Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (JPA), João Pessoa, Paraíba, Brazil would travel a Great Circle distance of 4,061 miles (or 6,535 kilometers).

A Great Circle is the shortest distance between 2 points on a sphere. Because most world maps are flat (but the Earth is round), the route of the shortest distance between 2 points on the Earth will often appear curved when viewed on a flat map, especially for long distances. If you were to simply draw a straight line on a flat map and measure a very long distance, it would likely be much further than if you were to lay a string between those two points on a globe. Because of the large distance between Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport, the route shown on this map most likely appears curved because of this reason.

Try it at home! Get a globe and tightly lay a string between Wallops Flight Facility Airport and Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport. You'll see that it will travel the same route of the red line on this map!

Departure Airport Information:

Arrival Airport Information:

Facts about Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL):

• The schedule for sounding rocket launches from WFF is posted on its official Web site.
• Since 2001, engineers at NASA Wallops Flight Facility have been developing new range technologies, systems and approaches to improve the cost and responsiveness of launch and flight test activities, within the constraints of available funding and program schedules.
• The closest airport to Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Accomack County Airport (MFV), which is located 26 miles (42 kilometers) SW of WAL.
• The WFF Main Base is located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia on the Delmarva Peninsula about 5 miles west of Chincoteague, Virginia.
• The first payload launched into orbit from Wallops Island was Explorer IX, atop a Scout rocket, on February 15, 1961.
• LCT2 is an effort to produce a relatively low-cost transceiver to allow launch vehicles to communicate through NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System after they have gone over the horizon from the launch site.
• The furthest airport from Wallops Flight Facility Airport (WAL) is Margaret River Airport (MGV), which is located 11,785 miles (18,965 kilometers) away in Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia.
• Wallops Flight Facility, located on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, primarily as a rocket launch site to support science and exploration missions for N.A.S.A.
• Because of Wallops Flight Facility Airport's relatively low elevation of 0 feet, planes can take off or land at Wallops Flight Facility Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.

Facts about Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (JPA):

• Because of Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport's relatively low elevation of 215 feet, planes can take off or land at Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport at a lower air speed than at airports located at a higher elevation. This is because the air density is higher closer to sea level than it would otherwise be at higher elevations.
• The closest airport to Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (JPA) is Presidente João Suassuna Airport (CPV), which is located 65 miles (105 kilometers) W of JPA.
• Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport handled 1,230,230 passengers last year.
• In addition to being known as "Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport", another name for JPA is "Aeroporto Internacional Presidente Castro Pinto".
• Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (JPA) currently has only 1 runway.
• The furthest airport from Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (JPA) is Falalop Airfield (ULI), which is nearly antipodal to Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport (meaning Presidente Castro Pinto International Airport is almost on the exact opposite side of the Earth from Falalop Airfield), and is located 12,026 miles (19,354 kilometers) away in Falalop Island, Yap, Federated States of Micronesia.
• The airport was officially opened on August 20, 1957 and since February 1, 1979 it is administrated by Infraero.