<p>July 4 fireworks came early when a NASA Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket was successfully launched at 4:25 a.m., Thursday, June 29, from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
</p><p>During the 8-minute flight, 10 canisters about the size of a soft drink can were ejected in space, 6 to 12 miles away from the 670-pound main payload.
</p><p>The canisters deployed blue-green and red vapor that formed artificial clouds visible from New York to North Carolina.
</p><p>During an ionosphere or aurora science mission, these clouds, or vapor tracers, allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space.
</p><p>The development of the multi-canister ampoule ejection system will allow scientists to gather information over a much larger area than previously possible when deploying the tracers just from the main payload.
</p><p>Credit: NASA/Wallops 
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<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/35482636501/">NASA Wallops Rocket Launch Lights up the Mid-Atlantic Coast</a>