The mission studied energy transfer in space.
The KiNET-X experiment created green and violet clouds in the evening sky over parts of the U.S. East Coast. (Image credit: NASA Wallops/Twitter)
The series finale of the KiNET-X mission successfully launched Sunday (May 16) at 8:44 p.m. EDT (0044 May 17 GMT) on a Black Brant XII rocket, from NASA s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the agency announced early Monday (May 17) via Twitter. The pictures probably showed more intense colors than the naked eye, as violet doesn t show up well to humans against the black background of the night sky.
The mission, also called the Kinetic-scale Energy and Momentum Transport Experiment, aims to better understand how energy and momentum transfer in phenomena like auroras, between different regions of space that are magnetically connected, NASA said in a mission description.
NASA launches rocket in search of aurora answers pressreleasepoint.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from pressreleasepoint.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Screenshot of the rocket launch capture by Dan Whittaker of Carolina Weather Group on May 16, 2021. [courtesy Youtube/Dan Whitaker/Carolina Weather Group]
After a bout of the winds and clouds scrubbed NASA’s launch of a suborbital sounding rocket from Wallops’ Flight Center on the Eastern Shore over the past week, the launch finally took place Sunday evening.
And a number of lucky folks looking to the skies over the Outer Banks were able to spot it.
The Carolina Weather Group’s Dan Whittaker captured incredible video of the Black Brant XII sounding rocket carrying the KiNET-X payload from Wallops Island.
Watch NASA Rocket Launch Live After It Was Postponed Four Times
On 5/11/21 at 6:39 AM EDT
After four false starts, NASA is again preparing to launch its KiNet-X mission, which is expected to produce a brief light show for millions of people in Bermuda and eastern parts of the U.S.
The space agency s fifth launch attempt has been scheduled for 8:05 p.m. ET on the evening of Tuesday, May 11, weather permitting.
However, since NASA s window is 40 minutes long, the Black Brant XII suborbital rocket that s set to take off from NASA s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia could end up launching as late as 8:45 p.m.