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Posted: 3/20/2002 6:09:41 AM EDT
Last friday, 3/15/02, a buddy of mine was in the Grand Canyon.  About sunset (approx 6:30 p.m. local time) he looked toward the west, and there hundreds of miles away was an enormous mushroom cloud out in the Pacific Ocean.  He said the sky was otherwise clear, and that this cloud measured hundreds of miles across at the top.  It was so enormous that people were pulling off the road to look at it.  He stopped at a local gas station and they said that the radio said it was a missle test ?!?!?!?!  Did anyone see this or hear of anything.  He said it looked just like the mushroom clouds of a nuclear explosion.
Link Posted: 3/20/2002 6:39:58 AM EDT
[#1]
I think it might have been these guys fooling around.....[:D]




[img]http://www.biggerhammer.net/mgshoot/bachelorparty/explosion1_cumshot.jpg[/img]
Link Posted: 3/20/2002 6:41:12 AM EDT
[#2]
[img]http://www.biggerhammer.net/mgshoot/bachelorparty/mortar_firing_fireball.jpg[/img]
Link Posted: 3/20/2002 6:59:34 AM EDT
[#3]
Your buddy witnessed the exhaust plume of a Minuteman missile launched from Vandenberg AFB. The modified Minuteman carried a target warhead for a Midcourse Defense Segment test (part of the National Missile Defense Program designed to protect us from an ICBM fired by a rogue nation like North Korea, Iran or Iraq). The target was successfully intercepted by a hit-to-kill missile 140 miles above the Pacific ocean. The interceptor missile was fired from the US test facility on Kwajalein Atoll. Winds aloft made the exhaust plume spread. The fillers used in the missile's solid propellant causes a rainbow color effect in sunlight. This was reported in the Drudge website last Saturday.

edit for spelling
Link Posted: 3/20/2002 11:52:00 AM EDT
[#4]
Link Posted: 3/20/2002 12:52:04 PM EDT
[#5]
What DnPRK and Big_Bear said.  The Minuteman test on 3/15 was announced several hours in advance.  We couldn't see it very well from San Diego due to some storm clouds.

Those are REALLY cool when you happen to see the rocket's ascent.

I'm also impressed that you could see it from the Grand Canyon.
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