I thought I was watching a rocket launch.

Hello,

Today while I was out mountain biking to the west of Las Vegas, I noticed a familiar sight, a rocket launch from California. Except this turned out to be different, instead of the rocket disappearing to the west, it came towards Las Vegas. Then another launched and then another. I saw 3 total. These all had the same initial rocket contrails, and then they turned into what appeared to be jet contrails. All 3 were flying well above all commercial jets in the area. I have pictures and video, unfortunately they are from my Note 8, but still pretty good. Does anyobe know what these are? I'm uploading the vids now.

a reply to: turbo8

How do you know they were above commercial jets? How long were they visible?

Sounds like contrails. Often mistaken for rockets.

a reply to: Phage

I know, I wanted to do this posting on my desktop, but my internet went down, so I'm on my cell phone.
Having trouble embedding pictures so:
drive.google.com...
This was the 1st one. Notice how the contrails changed? I am certain the same object created both trails.

a reply to: turbo8

Was there any noise accompanying what you saw, distant rumble or boom perhaps?

regards.

bally

a reply to: turbo8

Contrails occasionally do that as the aircraft moves into different atmospheric conditions.

Could very well have been a rocket.

But, judging from the smoke trail, and the picture of the object in flight, I might venture to guess that the rocket was in fact a large, hobby rocket.

Similar to what they once (still do?) launch up near Black Rock, NV during LDRS (Large Destructive Rocket Ships).

This is a commercial plane at 10x zoom

This was the unknown object 10x zoom

Looked like a rocket to me, too. Straight up. Never seen a contrail look like that; ever. Great find and pic. Maybe a commercial rocket?

a reply to: Justso

They aren't going straight up, they're approaching the person looking at them. It's perspective.

notice how this comes from the ground, all other planes didn't

a reply to: turbo8

A smaller commercial aircraft isn't going to look the same, but will leave a similar contrail.

a reply to: turbo8

It came from behind the mountains. They don't launch rockets towards Las Vegas. There's a reason all the launch sites are either on the coast, or very remote areas of Texas and New Mexico.

For sh!ts and giggles, I know this plane is below 10k feet

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: turbo8

It came from behind the mountains. They don't launch rockets towards Las Vegas. There's a reason all the launch sites are either on the coast, or very remote areas of Texas and New Mexico.

I know that is why I started this tread, if the rocket went the other way, I would not have cared. Since all 3 came towards Vegas, I thought it was quite interesting.

another one, it abruptly turned here.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: turbo8

It came from behind the mountains. They don't launch rockets towards Las Vegas. There's a reason all the launch sites are either on the coast, or very remote areas of Texas and New Mexico.

They don’t legally launch towards Vegas, true.

But, I’ve know many an amateur who has, in a fit of enthusiastic “what-hell-we’ll-be gone-before-they-can-catch-us” disregard for the legal, set up and launch from un-approved locations.

a reply to: turbo8

For sh!ts and giggles, I know this plane is below 10k feet

And thus, would not produce a contrail.

another one, it abruptly turned here.

Looks like a jet. Again, how long were they visible?

Thanks for sharing. I kind of think they resemble fighter contrails. Fighters can climb vertically, fly fast, maneuvre suddenly, fly above the commercial traffic at 50+ K feet, etc. The size of the contrails look fighter like - they often appear as a single plume as opposed to airliners which are mostly twin plumes.

I applaud you for taking pictures and video! The net is full of “I saw a big black triangle ten feet above the trees lit up like the space ship on ET, with spotlights searching the ground and red orbs, never thought to get my phone out” and “20 cars pulled over to watch the craft” and nobody gets a phone out, then posts pictures of kittens and TV dinners on Instagram and texts while driving.

Good work!

originally posted by: TheHans
Thanks for sharing. I kind of think they resemble fighter contrails. Fighters can climb vertically, fly fast, maneuvre suddenly, fly above the commercial traffic at 50+ K feet, etc. The size of the contrails look fighter like - they often appear as a single plume as opposed to airliners which are mostly twin plumes.

I applaud you for taking pictures and video! The net is full of “I saw a big black triangle ten feet above the trees lit up like the space ship on ET, with spotlights searching the ground and red orbs, never thought to get my phone out” and “20 cars pulled over to watch the craft” and nobody gets a phone out, then posts pictures of kittens and TV dinners on Instagram and texts while driving.

Good work!

Thanks! They very well could be fighters.

a reply to: Bhadhidar

An amateur rocket wouldn't leave a trail that would be mistaken for aircraft contrails.