NASA is trying to create colored clouds in the night sky

Once again, NASA has postponed its Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket launch on the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia due to bad weather.

According to NASA, the launch that was scheduled for Thursday night is now planned for no earlier than June 16. Along with the operation, 10 canisters of barium and other chemicals, each about the size of a soda, will be carried on the small rocket and deploy about five minutes after launch, releasing vapors and forming blue-green and red artificial clouds potentially visible from New York to North Carolina.

The ampule doors on the sounding rocket payload are open during testing at the Wallops Flight Facility.

Thanks to sunlight interacting with the chemicals, people can view clouds in color, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration said on its website.

The purpose of this mission is for scientists to learn more about the Earth's ionosphere, a layer of the atmosphere that is ionized by solar and cosmic radiation, by tracking the clouds.

The vapor tracers may be visible from New York to North Carolina and westward to Charlottesville, Virginia.

The total flight time for the mission is expected to be about eight minutes and the colorful clouds could linger for 20 minutes, depending on atmospheric conditions.

Are the vapors harmful to people or life on the ground? NASA said these materials used as tracer are among the same metals used much more extensively in common fireworks, so they don't cause any harm to living things.

The next window for launch will be from 9:05 p.m. to 9:20 p.m. on June 16, according to NASA.

(CGTN)