Five sounding rockets streaked into the pre-dawn sky on March
27, 2012, leaving trails of milky white clouds in a little
understood part of the atmosphere. The first rocket was launched
to the cusp of space at 4:58 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time, and the
subsequent launches occurred at 80 second intervals. The goal of
the Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) was to improve
understanding of the process that drives fast-moving winds high
in the thermosphere. Fiery trails from four of the five sounding
rockets are clearly visible in this time-lapse photograph (top)
of the launch. The second image shows two of the clouds left in
the wake of the experiment; the rockets released trimethyl
aluminum, a substance that burns spontaneously in the presence
of oxygen. The harmless by-products of this glowing reaction
were visible to the naked eye as far south as Wilmington, North
Carolina; west to Charlestown, West Virginia.; and north to
Buffalo, New York. Both photographs were taken near the launch
site at NASA’s W