This Day in Alaskan History-May 27th, 1905
First rocket of 2026 takes flight at Poker Flat
A two-stage NASA sounding rocket shot skyward from Poker Flat Research Range at 4:20 a.m. Friday as part of a long-running project to learn more about aurora-produced nitric oxide in the upper atmosphere. Nitric oxide, a gas, can travel to lower atmospheric levels, where it can damage Earth’s protective ozone layer. The Polar Night Nitric […]
This Day in Alaska History-January 28th, 1908
Launch of third NASA rocket completes complex aurora mission
The first two rockets launched from Poker Flat Research Range north of Fairbanks on Tuesday, March 25, with one taking a route similar to Saturday’s rocket and the other flying farther north to eject colorful vapor tracers over the Arctic Ocean above Utqiagvik and Kaktovik. The mission, titled Auroral Waves Excited by Substorm Onset Magnetic […]