A look at the clouds released by NASA's Terrier-Improved Malemute rocket. (NASA Wallops Flight Facility/Twitter)

Early risers from New York to North Carolina got an early Independence Day fireworks displayThursday, courtesy of NASA.

At 4:25 a.m., from Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia coast. A few minutes into its 8-minute flight, it released 10 small canisters containing a colored vapor that formed blue-green and red luminescent clouds. The payload later splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, roughly 90 miles from the launch site.

The rocket was originally supposed to launch on May 31, but due to issues ranging from strong winds to boats in the possible landing area, according to the Washington Post.

The Wallops facility received a few thousand reports and photos of the artificial clouds from observers along the Mid-Atlantic coast.

" and successful technology test of this new ampoule system," Wallops director Bill Wrobel told CNN. "This flight paves the way for an upcoming science mission taking flight from Norway that will use this ampoule deployment system to study the aurora.

The vapor tracers will allow scientists learn more about the movement of particles in Earth's ionosphere.