View Full Image

A sounding rocket launches on March 27, 2012 as part of the ATREX mission from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: NASA A sounding rocket launches on March 27, 2012 as part of the ATREX mission from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: NASA

WALLOPS ISLAND, VA – NASA successfully launched five suborbital sounding rockets this morning from its Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as part of a study of the upper level jet stream.



The first rocket was launched at 4:58 a.m. EDT and each subsequent rocket was launched 80 seconds apart.



Each of the rockets released a chemical tracer that created milky, white clouds at the edge of space. The launches and clouds were reported to be seen from as far south as Wilmington, N.C.; west to Charlestown, W. Va.; and north to Buffalo, N.Y.



The Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) mission will gather information needed to better understand the process responsible for the high-altitude jet stream located 60 to 65 miles above the surface of the Earth.



More information on the ATREX mission is available on the Internet at: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/missions/atrex.html