NASA Rocket Launch May Be Visible from Eldersburg

Predicted visibility map for the Wednesday night launch. Image via NASA

By KARA SEYMOUR

Maryland residents may get a glimpse of a spectacular event Wednesday evening — a NASA rocket launch.

According to NASA, between 7 and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 7, residents in the mid-Atlantic region may see NASA’s next suborbital launch. The rocket is launching from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Via the NASA website:

Approximately six minutes after launch, the sounding rocket will deploy four sub-payloads containing mixtures of barium and strontium will be released, creating a cloud that is blue-green and red in color.

Residents from Long Island, N.Y., 235 miles north of the launch site, to Morehead City, N.C., 232 miles south, 165 miles west in Charlottesville, Va.—and everyone in between—could get a glimpse of the colorful evening launch.

NASA says Wednesday’s launch of the suborbital flight will test a modified Black Brant sounding rocket motor and launch vehicle and spacecraft systems as well as sub-payload ejection technologies.

Sound complicated? Just enjoy the view.

According to the National Weather Service, the elements should not interfere. It’s expected to be “partly cloudy” with no chance of rain in greater Baltimore area on Wednesday evening.

You can also watch the rocket launch via NASA’s official rocket-launch live stream, embedded below.