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Thread: Phoenix, Vegas residents awed by missile contrail

  1. #1
    Garand Member Ought Six's Avatar
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    Arrow Phoenix, Vegas residents awed by missile contrail

    http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/...5278e96e9922d7

    People across the Southwest got an early morning show in the sky Thursday, courtesy of a trio of unarmed missiles fired from New Mexico, one of which left a brilliant contrail that changed colors as it was illuminated by the rising sun.

    The twisting cloud-like formation was visible in southern Colorado, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas just before sunrise, and led to hundreds of calls and emails to area television stations.

    Law enforcement agencies in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado received some reports of a crash, but those were quickly discounted. A sheriff's deputy in northern New Mexico who saw one of the missiles leaving behind a contrail as it lifted into the pre-dawn sky said he spotted what appeared to be an explosion and a part falling off the craft.

    "When I saw it, it surprised the heck out of me, and I thought, 'Wow, that's not something you see every day,'" said San Juan County deputy J.J. Roberts. "So I pulled over, pulled out my iPhone and started taking some pictures and video."

    The "explosion" was a normal separation of the first and second stages of the unarmed Juno ballistic missile that was fired at 6:30 a.m. MDT from Fort Wingate near Gallup, N.M., said Drew Hamilton, a spokesman for the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range. The expended first stage landed in a designated area of U.S. Forest Service land.

    The Juno missile was then targeted by advanced versions of the Patriot missile fired from White Sands, about 350 miles away, as part of a test. Two of the missiles were fired and hit the incoming Juno missile, said Dan O'Boyle, a spokesman for the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, which was in charge of the Patriots used in the test.

    The Patriot missiles kill incoming targets by direct strike and don't explode.
    Read the rest of the article at the linked page.

  2. #2
    Senior Member T-5 Killer's Avatar
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    FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU I MISSED IT. Damn that would have been cool to see this morning.
    This is one of those moments where I hate being a cubicle slave.
    Last edited by T-5 Killer; 09-13-2012 at 06:39 PM.

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    Senior Member subotai's Avatar
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    I am even more amazed that they had any Juno's around. I thought they were long gone.

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    Senior Member Euroamerican's Avatar
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    Darn... I would have like to have seen that when I was down in southern AZ a couple weeks ago..

    Anyhow... The thought of a Juno still being available and having launching facilities and crews available made me do some searching.

    http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_lau/sr19_m57a1.htm

    Interesting.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Piirka's Avatar
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    NO! What are they trying to hide? Has the civil war begun anew?

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    The member that no one remembers. IconOfEvi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Piirka View Post
    NO! What are they trying to hide? Has the civil war begun anew?
    The Midwest Citadel Syndicates stand at the ready!

    Tomorrow, we march on Toronto!

  7. #7
    How's that Hopey Changey thing workin'? C.Puffs's Avatar
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    HA! I saw it and was wondering what the hell it was on my drive in to work yesterday. Looked like someone had parked on top of the mountains to the East of I-15 and was shining a searchlight through fog at the clouds. But there were no clouds and no fog. Turns out they did a PAC-3 missile defense test yesterday.

    http://www.defense-aerospace.com/art...t-in-test.html

  8. #8
    How's that Hopey Changey thing workin'? C.Puffs's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by subotai View Post
    I am even more amazed that they had any Juno's around. I thought they were long gone.
    Not the Junos they used back in the 50s.

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