Pink cloud visible in Arizona after New Mexico rocket launch

PHOENIX (AP) - Early risers across much of Arizona were treated to a colorful sight - a pink cloud resulting from a NASA rocket launch from an Army installation in southern New Mexico.

White Sands Missile Range spokeswoman Cammy Montoya says the rocket launched at 5:26 a.m. Wednesday.

She said a bright pink cloud was visible for the next 20 minutes or so as sunlight hit the vapor released from the rocket.

News outlets in Arizona reported that residents in places such as Phoenix, Tucson, Lake Havasu City and Flagstaff reported seeing the cloud, and Montoya said Arizona is where the calls that White Sands received came from.

The rocket carried an atomospheric-research payload designed by scientists and engineers at a research lab at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque.