I’ve been in my brother-in-law’s Citation at 45,000 feet. I gotta admit that from that altitude commercial airliner contrails look completely different.
The still photo’s I’ve seen of this thing DO look like contrails. If there is no video of an actual rocket taking off and creating the contrail, I’m gonna go with the contrail explanation.
Unless it is a hoax, there is video, some links on this thread, as well as CBS and Yahoo that show a launch complete with the glow of the thrust at the bottom of the missile and a long boost phase.
Video is HERE:
http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2010/11/09/pentagon-cant-explain-missile-off-california-coast/