NASA's Colorful Rocket Launch Postponed

UPDATE: Sunday night's rocket launch has been scrubbed. From Space.com: "Unacceptably high winds, haze and a potential boat in the danger zone have forced NASA to call off tonight's launch attempt from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia." The next chance for a launch will come Monday night. The window for Monday's launch is the same as Sunday's, 9:04 to 9:19 p.m.

Original story:

There could be a colorful show in the skies over Long Island Sunday night if a NASA rocket launch goes off as scheduled.

NASA is planning to launch a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket that will deploy canisters that will release blue-green and red vapor to form artificial clouds between 4 and 5.5 minutes after launch.

The launch is scheduled for Sunday, June 11 between 9:04 and 9:19 p.m. EDT at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

The artificial clouds, or vapor tracers, allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space, according to NASA.

The clouds may be visible along the mid-Atlantic coastline from New York to North Carolina.

NASA has two ground stations—at Wallops Flight Facility and in Duck, North Carolina—to view the clouds that will be produced as part of the test. Clear skies are required at one of the two ground stations for the launch to take place. The current forecast calls for clear skies at both locations Sunday night. Clear skies are also expected on Long Island.

“The area of high pressure responsible for the heat wave in the eastern U.S. will also promote clear skies through next week, which will bode well for the NASA launch,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Faith Eherts said.

The total flight time for the mission is expected to be about 8 minutes. The payload will land in the Atlantic Ocean about 90 miles from Wallops Island and will not be recovered.

Live coverage of the mission is scheduled to begin at 8:30 p.m. Sunday on the Wallops Ustream site.

Photo: NASA