The Noshiro Rocket Testing Center (NTC) was established in 1962 as one of the affiliated facilities of the Institute of Industrial Science of the University of Tokyo, which became the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) in 1964.

With the M-V launch vehicle program, the facilities were extensively upgraded with a large solid motor air combustion test building and an upper motor high altitude performance test facility completed by 1992.

The static firing test for the M-V rocket engines took place at Noshiro.

In addition, a successful static test firing of the ATREX, an experimental precooled jet engine that works as a turbojet at low speeds and a ramjet up to Mach 6.0 occurred in 1992.

From 1998, the site has been active in the Reusable Vehicle Testing program to develop an air-breathing engine which uses less fuel than a rocket and can therefore transport a larger payload.