NASA has shot a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket into the sky which dispensed 10 small canisters, each releasing a mix of chemicals (barium, lithium, and tri-methyl aluminum) designed to produce blue-green and red vapors in an attempt to better understand the formation of auroras.
The fake clouds were visible from New York all the ways to North Carolina (June 29th , 2017 @ 4:30am ), producing plenty of sightings and reports of alien invaders.
The rocket, which reached the upper atmosphere, had been delayed for several weeks due to bad weather. The experiment was designed to allow scientists on the ground to visually track particle motions in space. Or so they claimed. The clouds themselves resembled a fleet of spaceships.