Fireball above Porterville, California.
As I was driving away from a restaraunt, I saw a bright white fireball rising in the Southwest sky. It left a trail of debris or gas, and my first thought was that it was a missile. It seemed to gain altitude, then disappear, leaving behind a contrail of multicolored gases (orange, blue, white). As I approached my home, a man and his two children were standing at the corner, and I stopped. He said he thought it was a missile test. I've never seen anything like it in my life. The "trail" of gases persisted for approximately 10 minutes after the fireball disappeared. I noted what I believe to be an aircraft in the vicinity of the fireball.
((Vandenberg rocket launch. PD))
As I was driving away from a restaraunt, I saw a bright white fireball rising in the Southwest sky. It left a trail of debris or gas, and my first thought was that it was a missile. It seemed to gain altitude, then disappear, leaving behind a contrail of multicolored gases (orange, blue, white). As I approached my home, a man and his two children were standing at the corner, and I stopped. He said he thought it was a missile test. I've never seen anything like it in my life. The "trail" of gases persisted for approximately 10 minutes after the fireball disappeared. I noted what I believe to be an aircraft in the vicinity of the fireball.
((Vandenberg rocket launch. PD))
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Yes
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Yes
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Off
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Yes
Porterville
USA
1 minute
1 minute
36.07
-119.03
fireball
CA
Occurred : 10/14/2002 19:02 (Entered as : 10/14/02 19:02) Reported: 10/14/2002 7:28:56 PM 19:28 Posted: 10/15/2002 Location: Porterville, CA Shape: Fireball Duration: 1 minute Characteristics: The object left a trail, There was an aura or haze around the object, There were aircraft in the vicinity or aircraft chasing the object
Fireball above Porterville, California. ((Vandenberg rocket launch. PD))