NASA rocket scheduled to create noctilucent clouds tonight

(NASA) - A rocket experiment that may shed light on the highest clouds in the Earth’s atmosphere will be conducted Sept. 15 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
The Charged Aerosol Release Experiment (CARE) will be conducted by the Naval Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense Space Test Program using a NASA four-stage Black Brant XII suborbital sounding rocket. Using ground based instruments and the STP/NRL STPSat-1 spacecraft, scientists will study an artificial noctilucent cloud formed by the exhaust particles of the rocket’s fourth stage at about 173 miles altitude.
The launch is scheduled between 7:30 and 7:57 p.m. EDT. The backup launch days are Sept. 16 through 20. The rocket flight and the resulting cloud may be seen throughout the mid-Atlantic region. The artificial noctilucent cloud also may be visible the following morning just before sunrise. Continued

Photos: NASA