Rocket launches bracketed Arizona on Thursday, with an intelligence satellite heading into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in midafternoon and a Patriot missile test taking place in the morning in New Mexico.

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Evidence of the afternoon launch from Vandenberg, near Lompoc, Calif., northwest of Santa Barbara, could not be seen from the Valley.

The early-morning launch captured the eyes and imaginations of residents throughout the southwestern United States, including Arizona.

The morning sun refracted light from the contrail of the target missile, which was shaken by wind, creating a light show across the sky between 5 and 6 a.m. Thursday morning, according to Monte Marlin, a spokeswoman for the White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico.

The target, a 40-foot-tall Juno Tactical Ballistic Missile, was launched from Fort Wingate, an Army depot south of Interstate 40 near Gallup, N.M., and directed toward the missile range.

The booster rocket separated over Cibola National Forest. At White Sands, a Patriot missile was launched to intercept it.

Dan O'Boyle, spokesman for the Army's Aviation and Missile Command at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., said the test was successful.

Officials were testing the PAC-3 system, or Patriot Advanced Capability, the latest modification to the missile system.

Since the mid-1990s, White Sands has conducted 14 tests involving large targets launched from Fort Wingate, Marlin said.

On Thursday afternoon, an Atlas V rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office payload was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, according to Jennifer Green-Lanchoney, a spokeswoman for the base. The launch took place at 2:39 p.m.

The NRO is in charge of America's intelligence satellites.

Occasionally, contrails from Vandenberg launches can be seen from as far away as Arizona when launches take place in the late afternoon.