Not all scientific rocketry involves the space shuttle, luanching satelittes or sending complex probes deep into the solar system.  A major branch of rocketry involves what are known as sounding rockets; long trajectory rockets that do not enter orbit or leave the gravitational influence of the Earth.  These rockets are used to lift payloads, usually scientific instrumentation high into the Earth's atmosphere to take different measurements in a large number of different fields as wide ranging as meteorology to magnetospheric observations.  Their are several advantages to this sort of approach to rocketry.  These may be summed up in the phrase: fast and cheap.
 

Since sounding rockets often use outdated military boosters (usually called motors) they are often very inexpensive to launch.  These motors are usually a solid fuel booster, meaning that they burn some sort of metallic powder that once  ignited can't be "turned off" as in the case of liquid propellent powered rockets.  Another advantage of a sounding rocket is that it has a much shorter lead time for developing payloads than more complex orbital boosters.  A payload can be developed in as little as six months.  Additionally, they allow for investigations to be done at specified times and places at intermediate altitudes not attainable by either balloons (max. altitude 30 miles) or satellites (min. altitude 100 miles).  These properties make sounding rockets ideal for short duration scientific missions as well as missions that would designed to test equipment equipment designed for use in orbital or deep space missions.

As the graphic shows, equipment orientation is achieved and maintained by using a method that allows the instrument package to sight in on a distant astronomical object.  Orientation is also maintained by spinning the payload to enhance stability.  The largest sounding rocket program in the U.S. is run by the Goddard Space Flight Center from the Whallops Island facility in Virginia.  Other launch sites exist in Poker Flat, Alaska; White Sands, New Mexico; Puerto Rico and from Aircraft Carriers.  Other countries such as Brazil and Japan also have vigorous scientific sounding rocket programs.  The flight of a sounding rocket is usually thirty minutes or less in duration and most of the components are recoverable and reusable.

Sounding Rocket Links:

Goddard Space Flight Center/Whallop Island
Poker Flats Research Range
University of Verigina Sounding Rockets Page