On Monday a NASA team launched a rocket into an Alaskan aurora all in the name of science.
The Ground-to-Rocket Electrodynamics-Electrons Correlative Experiment mission (longest name ever), was designed to study how auroras form.
An aurora is due to electronically charged particles from the sun that enter the earth’s atmosphere and creates quite a spectacular, magical scene.
The team camped out at Poker Flat Research Range in Poker Flat, Alaska, until conditions were perfect for take-off, with the goal to study how certain swirls and curls form in auroras.
The rocket spent around 600 seconds in the air while instruments attached to its body sampled plasma from the aurora. After the engine burnt out, the rocket's body parachuted back to Earth. Amazing stuff.
Hat-tip: Mashable. 
