NASA launches suborbital rocket

US space agency NASA launched a suborbital sounding rocket from its Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore on early Monday morning. The Terrier-Lynx rocket was launched for the U.S. Department of Defense, according to NASA. The launch originally was scheduled for Friday morning but postponed because of the weather. Sounding rocket, sometimes called research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its suborbital flight. The rockets are used to carry instruments from 50 to 1,500 kilometers above the surface of the Earth, the altitude generally between weather balloons and satellites. They are advantageous for some research due to their low cost, short lead time and their ability to conduct research in areas inaccessible to either balloons or satellites.