Mysterious Missle off the coast of LA.

Surprised no one said anything about this. Worried? Should you be?

One person theorized perhaps Obama was flexing his muscle to make a point to Asia. After his NYC fly over debacle, I dunno.

http://www.cbs8.com/Global/story.asp?S=13468118

First I've heard of it.

Latest report:

Military and aviation officials say they don't know who may have launched a mysterious object spotted in the sky late Monday off the Southern California coast, but said that whatever the projectile was, it did not pose a threat to national security.

A KCBS news helicopter spotted what appeared to be a missile traveling through the sky northwest of Catalina Island, about 35 miles west of Los Angeles.

Video posted online by the television station showed a luminous point hurtling through the sky followed by a long contrail.

Officials with the Defense Department, the Navy and the Air Force said they did not have any details on the object or its launch site. Pentagon officials said that initial indications were that the military was not involved.

"We are aware of the unexplained contrail reported off the coast of Southern California yesterday evening," according to a statement from the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the U.S. Northern Command, which operates the U.S. and Canadian missile warning system. "At this time, we are unable to provide specific details but we are working to determine the exact nature of this event."

"We can confirm that there is no indication of any threat to our nation and we will provide more information as it becomes available," the statement said.

The Federal Aviation Administration didn't approve any commercial space launches in the area Monday, said spokesman Ian Gregor.

"We're looking into this," he said.

[Updated at 9:55 a.m.: Naval Base Ventura County spokeswoman Teri Reid said Tuesday that the contrail seen off the Southern California coast Monday did not originate at Naval Air Station Point Mugu.

"It didn't happen here," she said. "There was no firing on the range yesterday."

Nor did it come from Vandenberg Air Force Base, officials there said, adding that the facility's last launch was to put a satellite into orbit on Friday.]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/11/mystery-missile-launch-los-angeles-no-threat-national-security.html

I saw that while at lunch. There's so much speculation I'll wait to see if anyone ownes up to it before I get too worried.

Probably just another alien craft returning to the mother ship. I don't see any need for alarm.

Probably something went wrong at the mythbusters lab.

stuart in mn wrote: Military and aviation officials say they don't know who may have launched a mysterious object spotted in the sky late Monday off the Southern California coast, but said that whatever the projectile was, it did not pose a threat to national security.

You can say you don't know what it is, or you can say it posed no threat, but you can't say both.

Grassroots Rocketsports Magazine has a $20x challenge each year to see who can achieve the highest elevation on a shoestring budget. This year, Andys cousin stuffed a boosted 305 into an Estes hobby rocket. He is typically a podium finisher.

Contrail doesn't look right for a missile. Appears that whatever it was, was moving at a slower speed.

I've been on Submarine ops in the Atlantic, generally we didn't do it so close to land. What are the odds a flight from NYC to Paris gets tagged if you launch close to JFK.

I agree with Dave.

....crafting my tin-foil hat as we speak...

pics or it didnt happen...

Contrail doesn't look right for a missile?? What else would it be?

Astronaut farmer?

In reply to sachilles:

"everyone knows the Moon is made of Cheese...."

sachilles wrote: Contrail doesn't look right for a missile??

That's right.

What else would it be?

Something else.

foxtrapper wrote: What else would it be?

Something else.

Doesn't look like the "Aurora" contrail either:

Something/Something else?

Fat contrails = fat heavy equipment. Google FBMs or ICBMs, they are fat on take off but thin right out; this thing is fat all the way up.

Maybe it was Wallace.

I used to work with a guy who was into model rocketry. Seriously into it. As in, six foot tall, 5 inch diameter tubes. He needed to notify the FAA before a launch.

It may have been a reckless hobbyist who failed to tell anyone about his plans.

Top Gear America launch thier own Space Shuttle?

In reply to Woody:

A reckless hobbyist with a good-sized boat, at that.

Or a small boat and a disposable raft...

Cone_Junky wrote: Top Gear America launch thier own Space Shuttle?

Ohh Cock!

Sorry... I was just cleaning it and it went off.

You know, I've got to say that big media drops the ball a lot on this stuff. While you have to sort through a lot of crap, you do tend to get the correct answer to something like this before the major "news" outlets.

Personally, I'm sticking to the chans.

I like the nonchalant news coverage/responses. "Oh yea, we just have random missiles being fired off, but no idea who is doing it. Don't worry about it, we're looking into it".

And they wanted to enact that "space wars" program? Ohhhhhhkaaaaaaaay!

Highly doubt they dont know where it came from. They can track that kind of stuff.

Aliens man its the aliens. George Washington was into Aliens man.