Mystery Missile Launch Seen off Calif. Coast

[justdrew]

if there weren't a segment of the PTB that so wants to push tensions with china I'd be more likely to consider such theory. The 'it was chinese' crowed has presented zero evidence, and seem to be using the ambiguity here to push the war with china meme and club obama. no surprise there. That video states "there were no planes in the area at the time" yet various online flight tracking sites do and did show AWE808 in just the right spot at the right time.

I'm still not 100% sure it was a contrail, but I've seen no evidence against it that's been very convincing. When WND and it's constellation of associated BS disinfo production sources (madsen, farah, etc.) attach their fangs into a theory, it makes me seriously doubt that theory.

on edit: which is not to say "don't post that" or anything, if nothing else I want to know what they're saying

[Nordic]

I was definitely on the side of the "it's a missile" fence, but now I'm not so sure. I think now that it's possible it could have been a contrail. The thing I wish is that I had seen it myself, but having not seen it myself it's difficult to judge.

Because I've been to the beach before, here in LA, at sunset, and seen some pretty weird stuff right above the horizon. The atmosphere bends the light in some really strange ways right at the horizon and you'll never know what you'll see along the edge of the earth. I've even seen contrails that, when you are viewing them almost straight "down the tube" as it were, look really strange, almost like UFO's, and when you add to that the refraction of miles of atmospheric gases right above the sea, well ... you can't trust your eyes at all there.

The only way it is a contrail is if the contrail BEHIND the plane which was coming toward us was significantly MAGNIFIED by the refraction of the atmosphere. Otherwise, why is it so damn big at the bottom and skinny at the top?

And that's quite possible.

The day in question was phenomenally clear and crisp, I remember (ahem) clearly.

Had I seen it myself I'd have a better feel for it. As it stands, I don't know how much the cameraman was zoomed in on this thing.

[justdrew]

it's supposed to be I think, 32,000 feet up, and the far back end of the trail would have had some time to spread (which they can do rapidly in the right conditions at that altitude), and then there's the refraction effect that would also cause visual spreading, and due to the altitude, the light would be passing through more air than just about anything else ever seen, so it would be a bigger effect than even the commonly seen visual spreading of the sun on the horizon .

[nathan28]

I'm leaning towards the jet, but still want to know:

1. Why did the internet do a better job identifying flights?
2. Why are there advisories of missile tests?

[elfismiles]

My friend just reminded me of an always interesting open-minded Brazilian skeptic, Kentaro Mori:

Ghost Rocket in California was flight UPS902
http://forgetomori.com/2010/ufos/ufo-ph ... ht-ups902/

[82_28]

Launch of giant rocket in Southern California heard for miles

With a thunderous roar heard for miles around, the tallest rocket ever launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base blasted into outer space, hurtling over the Pacific Ocean as it cut across the afternoon sky.

At 1:10 p.m. Pacific time, the 23-story Delta IV Heavy rocket lifted off from the base northwest of Santa Barbara. A white plume trailed the massive rocket as it ascended.

Standing 235 feet tall, the rocket was so large that the blast reportedly was heard as far away as 50 miles. According to aerospace experts, the booster was carrying a top-secret spy satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office — the covert federal umbrella agency that operates spy satellites. (anybody ever heard of this shit before? I sure haven't. I thought NRO was National Review Online.)

The rocket hit speeds of about 17,500 mph as it climbed toward space. About six minutes after launch, the first stage of the rocket broke away — later splashing down in the Pacific.

Because the rocket was so large, it was visible from much of the Southland after its launch, but it was difficult to see because the launch was in the middle of the day.

"Someone not looking for the launch probably wouldn't have noticed it," said Brian Webb of Thousand Oaks, who runs the website SpaceArchive.info, which monitors rocket launches.

Standing with binoculars on a bluff overlooking Highway 101 about three miles east of Santa Barbara, Webb said moments afterward that he could see "two or three very closely spaced orange points of light."

"Below me, vehicles were pulling off and stopping on the southbound shoulder of Highway 101 before the launch," he said. "Some of them were outside of their vehicle or vehicles."

The rocket lifted off from the base's Space Launch Complex 6, known on base as "Slick Six." The launch pad was built in the 1960s.

The Delta IV Heavy was built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. The rocket's three massive engines were built by Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-v ... 0521.story



In keeping with the spirit of this thread, it does bear note that the payload is definitely a mystery as well. Apparently it is headed for a polar orbit.

Go to NRO.gov. It looks like some fan site for a sci-fi series.

[MinM]

Watching night rocket launch was a blast for folks along East Coast
Tariq Malik Space.com

An Orbital Sciences Minotaur 1 rocket streaks toward space in this long-exposure view of the Air Force's ORS-3 mission launch of 29 small satellites from Pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va., Tuesday night.

A dazzling rocket launch that hurled a record 29 satellites into orbit from Virginia's eastern shore Tuesday night was also visible to potentially millions of observers on the U.S. East Coast, thrilling skywatchers who photographed the amazing space shot.

The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched a cornucopia of satellites into orbit Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. EST from a pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Va. Because of the launch's trajectory, it was expected to be visible from northeastern Canada to Florida, and as far inland as Kentucky, according to Orbital Sciences officials.

"What an amazing sight to see," skywatcher Debbie Stone, who watched the rocket launch from Charlton, Mass., told Space.com in an email. Stone's long-exposure view of the launch shows the Minotaur 1 rocket as an arc of light over a dark landscape. [See more amazing Minotaur 1 rocket launch photos by SPACE.com readers]

From my observing post in West Orange, N.J., the launch appeared as fast-moving light with a blazingly bright reddish-orange hue streaking to the southeast.

"Daddy, I see the rocket," my 4-year-old daughter Zadie told me as we watched the launch with neighbors.

Tuesday's rocket launch was orchestrated by the U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space Office and was aimed primarily at launching the U.S. Air Force's $55 million STPSat-3 satellite, which is carrying five experiments and sensors to measure the space environment. The 28 other tiny cubesat satellites included TJ3Sat, the first-ever satellite designed and built by high school students, and NASA's new PhoneSat 2.4, a satellite built from smartphone components.

The Minotaur 1 rocket launched from a pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, a commercial launch site overseen by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority that is located on the grounds of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/watching ... 2D11624181

@pourmecoffee: This picture of yesterday's @NASA launch is poignant because of the birds. I like to help people with symbolism