Last night, off the coast of Virginia, NASA launched five small rockets in five minutes as part of the ATREX (Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment), to test the winds of the upper atmosphere. The rockets flew up to a height of about 100 km (60 miles) and released a chemical that was blown by those winds, forming an amazing, milky, ghostly scene:

ATREX, for Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment.

NASA launches five rockets in five minutes! by Phil Plait, Discover