WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY, Va. — A NASA rocket scheduled to launch Wednesday night from Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia should be visible across most of Central Virginia and beyond. The two-hour launch window is between 7 and 9 p.m.
“Approximately six minutes after launch, the sounding rocket will deploy four sub-payloads containing mixtures of barium and strontium will be released, creating a cloud that is blue-green and red in color,” NASA posted online.
NASA said the colorful launch would be visible from New York City to Morehead City, North Carolina and west to Charlottesville.
“Sounding rockets, also called suborbital rockets, are valuable tools in qualifying technologies for flight,” NASA added. “During this suborbital flight, NASA will test a modified Black Brant sounding rocket motor, launch vehicle and spacecraft systems and sub-payload ejection technologies.”