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Posted on 07/14/2005 1:00:09 AM PDT by DollarBill
Was there a night-time launch from Cape Canaveral? A rocket flew directly over my house - 40 NW of Chicago. The noise woke me up and I went outside and saw a rocket, still very loud, going in a NE direction, continuing to get higher and higher in the distance. Did anyone else see or hear this?
No, it was a jet... The "fireball" at the end of it was pretty big, the noise was exactly like a rocket or shuttle, but there is nothing on the news? When I first heard it and looked outside, I thought NASA decided to launch the shuttle 12 hours after the failed launch. Interesting....
I am in central Illinois and I heard something about that time.
It could have been a bolide.
Hi, I'm in mid Missouri. Can you see me waving? Howdy neighbor.
This thread has potential.
What is a bolide?
My wife tells me that the way I type people will hear me in the next state.
It's not the shuttle -- that won't launch until Saturday -- maybe.
I couldn't find anything in the news.
A very bright meteor.
Wasn't the shuttle, the next window of opportunity for a shuttle launch is July 16 at the earliest. With so much "space junk" floating around in low Earth orbit, they have to take that into consideration when launching a shuttle, as NASA tracks space junk just like any other moving object in space.
A bolide is a meteor that passes thru the earth's atmosphere but doesn't strike the earth. It is usually flaming and sometimes has sound. (Often they keep right on going back into space).
No, no... take the tin-foil off. This reminds me of when we had the earthquake in the middle of night (yes, in Illinois) and I went to FR and sure enough, someone had posted the question, was there just an earthquake in Illinois".
I've seen nighttime rockets before, most recently while in Sanibel Island during the last week in April. This was very similar.
Go ahead and put your tin-foil back on, if you must... But, I know it was some kind of rocket.
Sort of like a homo.
Or, maybe a fighter climbing with afterburners ignited?
I saw one about 25 years ago. It came and went in about 20 to 30 seconds but I don't remember any sound. I've since been told there can be sound but not to the degree you describe, Dollar Bill. How long was it in your view and did it disappear?
Regarding a bolide, that is very interesting... It appeared to be on a long trajectory, but continued to increase in altitude. Since I was directly "downwind" from it, as it went by, I could see the flames, and the white-to-red-to-yellow discoloration from the atmosphere and the relatively straight line that it traveled. I actually went outside my house and watched it for a good 5 minutes.
re. Prince Charles' question, you have any fighter bases around there, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force that could have scrambled at 2:30AM? Probably somewhere to the southwest of you given your reported flight trajectory.
There's a famous video from the late 60s or early 70s of one passing over the Rockies during the day; it was a huge flaming ball and had it struck it would have caused immense damage.
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