Feb. 22, 2017 Sounding Rocket Launches to Study Auroras

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/sounding-rocket-launches-to-study-auroras

A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket soars skyward into an aurora over Alaska following a 5:13 a.m. EST, Feb. 22, 2017 launch from the Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. The rocket carried an Ionospheric Structuring: In Situ and Groundbased Low Altitude StudieS (ISINGLASS) instrumented payload examining the structure of an aurora. ISINGLASS includes the launch of two rockets with identical payloads that will fly into two different types of auroras – an inverted-V arc and a dynamic Alfenic curtain.
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The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets built by Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Over 800 Black Brants of various versions have been launched since they were first produced in 1961, and the type remains one of the most popular sounding rockets ever built. They have been repeatedly used by the Canadian Space Agency and NASA.
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Don Quixote Note: MEMORIES : Back in the late 60's I worked for Pan Am who were the  contractor for the National Research Council's 'Churchill Rocket Range' where we fired Black Brant's to study the Aurora Borealis. The Black Brant is a family of Canadian-designed sounding rockets built by Bristol Aerospace in Winnipeg, Manitoba. (I also worked for Bristol prior to my employment in Churchill at the Rocket Range.)