The Gun Counter

The article said "old" missile. Crack(s) in the solid rocket motor propellant? I've heard of that in TOW missiles.

Could be, the SM-2 Block IIIA started production in 1991.

That is what we used to shoot. Fun stuff, except the exploding part.

BTW, look at the view of that missile launch (minus the explosion) and think about the people who thought that a Navy ship could fire a missile without everyone on board knowing about it (reference the conspiracy theorists from the TWA crash on the East Coast back in the day.)

I grew up in Orlando, seeing missile and rocket launches was a pretty common sight. I have seen everything from the Polaris to the Space Shuttle launched at night and can tell you flat out that everyone within 100 to 500 miles knows it when it happens. Even 50 miles away (direct line of sight) the sky lights up so bright that you can drive without headlights for a good 10 to 30 seconds (depending on the launch and direction). The bigger stuff will even be audible and cause ripples in bodies of water, even pools. And that is at 50+ miles from the launch site with the craft heading outbound either to the north or to the east on a orbital trajectory.

At 6 to 10 miles, the sound is enough that it knocks pictures off the walls, even for the "little" Delta IIs. The view is nothing short of spectacular, one of my earliest memories is of the launch of STS-8 (might have been STS-61-B I am not 100% sure) (https://youtu.be/ExlWG1XuPaY) from the visitor center field... I was a wee little guy and the sound was deafening.

In short, there is not a chance in hell that anyone within 15 to 20 miles would have mistaken a missile launch for anything other than what it was...

There is PLENTY of chance that people further away would have no idea what the hell they were seeing and anyone that has never actually seen a missile launch could easily believe they were seeing one when they were not.

Not to be outdone, the Russians do it in full view of the public:

https://youtu.be/IG4PnWtWnzI

Vonz90 wrote:That is what we used to shoot. Fun stuff, except the exploding part.

BTW, look at the view of that missile launch (minus the explosion) and think about the people who thought that a Navy ship could fire a missile without everyone on board knowing about it (reference the conspiracy theorists from the TWA crash on the East Coast back in the day.)

I've been on the USS Iowa in Long Beach, and it is supposedly a BIG battleship. I can't imagine one of the 5 inch guns going off without anyone not in the engine room knowing about it. I've noticed three things about conspiracy theories. Something the alleged conspirator has been demonstrated to know is completely ignored, the reaction the theorist wants is explained as normal human nature, despite displayed training and skill, and some arcane skill is magically attributed to the alleged conspirator. I think those are the three legs of conspiracy theories and the fact that there are not four is why it seems impossible to kick them away to make the conspiracy collapse under the weight of its own absurdity.