Surprise unmanned missile launch on Space Coast sparks talk of UFOs

An unannounced missile launch on the Space Coast this week took people so much by surprise that there’s been talk of UFOs and aliens. Officials say what people saw Tuesday was not an alien of a UFO, but rather the Trident missile being test-launched from underwater by a submarine that cruised out of Port Canaveral.Up and down the southeastern coast of the U.S., people could see the missile for hundreds of miles. But because the Navy did not announce the launch in advance, a lot of people didn’t know what they were seeing. Tridents are launched underwater from submarines. The missile pops up out of the water like a slippery bar of soap, then ignites its fuel and rockets away. Tridents are called missiles, not rockets because a missile is a weapon, and carries a warhead. A rocket carries a satellite or a spaceship.The Trident launches start from Port Canaveral at the Trident basin, where the missile and sub are prepared for launch. Then the submarine heads offshore.Spectators at Port Canaveral love to watch the big subs move in and out. They can carry 20 of the big missiles, capable of hitting any target in the world with nuclear warheads. It’s rare to see one of the test launches, in which the missiles head across the Atlantic in a run through to make sure the submarine crew and the weapons are ready. On Tuesday, a setting sun added to the drama of the scene and set off speculation and rumor. The Navy quelled the talk with a post-launch announcement that it was nothing more than a routine test of a weapon that has never been fired in anger.

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