‘Bright, Fast Moving Star’ Will Appear In The Skies Over New York Thursday

It's extremely rare that Upstate New York gets to watch a NASA rocket launch, but this week is our lucky chance.

NASA is alerting people all across the East Coast that something will appear in the dark on Thursday, December 15th. NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia will launch Rocket Lab USA’s first Electron rocket. The event will take place in the evening weather permitting. We will update this article with a time when the launch is closer. According to NASA, the launch window for the mission is 6 PM - 8 PM.

The fiery streak will be visible for up to three minutes after launch to people in Mid-Atlantic states, as well as eastern Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

News Observer reports the launch was supposed to happen on December 9th but was postponed due to weather.

The mission, named “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” will deploy radio frequency monitoring satellites for HawkEye 360. The 59-foot-tall Electron rocket will lift off from Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island.

Nasa will also provide a live cam feed of the launch online here.

Will Upstate New York See This?

According to the map above from NASA, if Mother Nature plays nice for us, we would see the launch in the skies over Upstate New York for several seconds. However, currently, the National Weather Service of Binghamton has issued a Winter Storm Watch during the launch time. If the skies are clear, look to the South East to see the launch in the skies.