WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. --

NASA will launch a rocket to test its next generation of spacecraft heat shields early Monday from its Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.

The Inflatable Reentry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE-3) will be launched on a Black Brant XI sounding rocket and land about 100 miles east of Cape Hatteras, NC.

The heat shield -- officially called the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) -- was developed at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton. It looks, according to NASA, like a giant cone of inner tubes assembled like a child's stacking ring toy.

NASA says the HIAD's reduced weight vs. a conventional heat shield will allow future spacecraft to carry heavier payloads. It also could allow NASA to return payloads from the International Space Station.

The launch window on Monday for all rockets, including several to test tracking systems and gather atmospheric data, is 5 to 8 a.m., according to NASA. The launch window for the IRVE-3 is 7 to 7:40 a.m.

The rocket will be visible to residents in the Wallops and the southern Chesapeake Bay region, NASA says.

The visitor center at Wallops will open at 4:30 a.m. Monday for those interested in viewing the launch.

More information on this mission -- including how to view the launch on the Internet and following the countdown on Twitter and Facebook -- is available at http://www.nasa.gov/wallops.

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NASA to launch rocket from Va. on Monday