Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Anyone think we’ll get an answer on the Mystery Missile? A day after the projectile was spotted off Los Angeles, we don’t know anything, except that it probably wasn’t carrying Tintin to the moon. (They launched from Syldavia.) The speculation is fascinating, though.
1. It’s an airplane contrail, seen from an unusual angle. If you tilt your head to the side so your cheek is on your shoulder you’ll see that the contrail actually goes straight
2. Oops my bad: It was one of ours, shot off by accident and no one’s ‘fessing up because they’re still toting up how many careers will end
3. Take this, Commies: it was an intentional launch, meant to show our foes we have the power to launch ICBMs from underwater. That was the theory of the fellow in the LA news video. This seems unlikely, because A) duh of course we can do that, and B) it would make more sense to do it closer to their shores than ours, no?
4. Amateur rocketeers having a lark. Possibly. But if you get together with your buds for a fun-filled evening of sending rockets screaming into the sky belching smoke, you might think “hey, should we tell anyone? Because maybe there’s like planes up there.”
“Nah, bro, what are the odds? You worry too much. Let’s light this candle!”
5. An enormous flaming unfurled finger from the Norks. We've got Slibems, yes we do! We've got Slibems, how 'bout you? If I had to bet, I’d say it was these guys. It seems like just the sort of stunt they’d pull - and by “stunt” I mean firing rockets over someone else’s territory while screaming 24/7 about how we’re their mortal enemy and their entire military stands quivering on tip-toe ready to kill us. One of these days they’re going to hold a nuclear test on a minor Hawaiian island, and we’ll have to start taking them seriously.
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Comments :
Sep '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
I think its NPR, funded by Soros, launching their 24x7x365 Garrison Keillor channel.
Jul '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
I think Ralph finally socked Alice to the moon.
Jul '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
An emergency replacement teleprompter after the TOTUS was damaged in shipping. When it absolutely must be there in time.
Jul '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Speaking of what we don't know, are we sure it was launched from SoCal and not Mexico?
May '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
I thought it might be one of ours, but from a program that is buried deep enough that the average Navy spokesman is not aware of it. But then, if you want to keep your launch a secret, you might find a less obvious place to do it.
Might be a defense contractor, but then again, why test launch just off the LA coast? What if there is a problem?
Having done some amateur rocketry, I can assure you that this is a pretty big piece of hardware. If it's private it cost $$$$ and uses the sort of propellant that cannot be purchased without the attention of the BATF. Besides, the guys I know lack the submarine to launch from. They prefer to haul it all out to the desert in a truck.
Aug '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
I was a tad annoyed, because I follow the Vandenberg launches, looking for opportunities to catch the rare dusk shots. The last one was over a year ago, but all of a sudden I see news photos of a beautiful contrail in the evening sky that I missed because it wasn't announced in advance.
This is what launches can look like, at the right time:
http://www.pbase.com/pderocco/image/50706875/original
Jun '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Paul DeRocco: I was a tad annoyed, because I follow the Vandenberg launches, looking for opportunities to catch the rare dusk shots. The last one was over a year ago, but all of a sudden I see news photos of a beautiful contrail in the evening sky that I missed because it wasn't announced in advance.
This is what launches can look like, at the right time:
http://www.pbase.com/pderocco/image/50706875/original · Nov 9 at 12:49pm
Paul: the relevant launch shot is great but the rest of that gallery is breath-taking
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Paul DeRocco:
This is what launches can look like, at the right time:
http://www.pbase.com/pderocco/image/50706875/original · Nov 9 at 12:49pm
Wow! Beautiful. Looks like an upside down jellyfish in the sky.
May '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Pilgrim
Paul DeRocco:
This is what launches can look like, at the right time:
http://www.pbase.com/pderocco/image/50706875/original · Nov 9 at 12:49pm
Paul: the relevant launch shot is great but the rest of that gallery is breath-taking · Nov 9 at 1:00pm
I agree with Pilgrim's comment on the whole of the gallery. Very nice!
Those Vandenberg launches are sometimes visible all the way up in the Bay Area, and they are usually announced well in advance. The consensus on some of the "enthusiast" sites I frequent is that this is a foreshortened contrail coming towards the camera, west to east. One fella has it as a US Airways 757 from Hawaii on its way to Phoenix, which would have been in the area at that time.
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
James Lileks, can't you figure out what's happening? Put the facts together:
1. Today, 11/09, is 09/11 backwards;
2. Obama's safely back home in Indonesia;
3. He took 34 warships with him so we can't defend ourselves;
4. We are being bombed.
New conspiracy theory! I'm starting a website: 11/09'ers for truth!
Who's with me?
Jul '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
1. Well, I'm sure that a couple of news helicopter guys have seen their fair share of contrails, and this attracted their notice. <Bzzzt!>
2. Most likely, but for reasons other than, "Ooops!" Failed interception from Point Magu? <Ding, ding>
3. Kind of sends the bad guys the wrong idea, no? Easier to hold a gun to our heads and say, "Don't move, or we'll shoot!" <Bzzzt!>
4. Oh, if only! If we got amateurs up to this level of performance, let's defund NASA now and send these guys the check. <Bzzzt!>
5. I would expect the NORKs to be out in front of this big time, if it was at all possible that they had anything to do with it. <Bzzzt!>
So I'm voting failed test/SNAFU. Either that, or those Japanese ghost planes from 1941 were actually time machines!
Sep '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Nancy Pelosi's alien overlords have had enough of the stimulus package and are taking the nearest rocket ship back to Zork.
Sep '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
California?
Its must be Predator
Jun '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Even the Norks aren't this bold. Gangsters intimidate for profit, not to bring down the wrath of heaven on the syndicate. The Norks know that Obama is weak, but a shot off the CA coast invites the destruction of their entire sub fleet along with their sub pens and ports. If it was the Norks, our military would be on red alert by now.
Oct '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Psuedo, you may have something there. Whether the mothership loaded up SpeakerNancy or not the overlords cannot be happy.
Jul '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Possibility #6: Elvis is everywhere - You know that missile flying out of LA? That isn't a missile: Elvis needs spaceships.
Possibility #7:Sure, CA is a mess, but did you know we have our very own Mos Eisley Spaceport? A wretched hive of scum & villainy!
Possibility #8 As suggested on Twitter by Jim Treacher: @jtLOL: Biden: "I thought that button said LUNCH. Whoops. So... what's for lunch?" I've found video evidence to support Treacher's thesis
Possibility #9 Where WAS Homer Hickam yesterday afternoon?
May '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
I think it was the next to last California Republican making his escape. (next to last because I'm still here. Anybody know where the light switch is?)
May '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
We'll try to stay serene and calm
When Catalina gets the bomb
Who's next, who's next, who's next...? (Tom Lehrer)
Sep '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
One thing I was wondering, and I've seen no comment on, but do they know where it went? Where did it come down? Seems like if the military doesn't know what it is they'd want to find it to get a good look at it.
I wonder if they are at least looking for it.
May '10
Re: Mystery Missile: this can't be good
Here's my party pooper response...It's a jet contrail from an airplane out over the Pacific headed inbound towards Los Angeles. Contrails become more dramatic this time of year because the atmosphere gets colder at the altitude commercial aircrafts typically fly. The contrail is wind-dispersed not that far behind the object, which indicates the object isn't moving that fast.
It appears to be going vertical, because it's approaching from a great distance toward us. And the sparkle on the object is reflected lights from the sun at the time of day when the sun is very low in the horizon. The reason NORAD/NORTHCOM doesn't know anything about it is because it's a normal aircraft in a normal flight plan. It doesn't appear to be anything unusual to them. And the missile launch warning satellites weren't triggered because there wasn't a missile launch.
It's an airplane.