What reasonable explanations have been given for the apparent launch of this "mystery missile"?

Probably my sanity just completely leaving the planet.

No I dunno. If I had to guess I’d say some secret experimental missile or sub or something with the navy screwed up and it got caught on film.

I’m leaning towards it being my sanity though.

That it was a commercial airliner flying normally. That the fact that it was going toward the camera made an optical illusion of the contrail making it appear vertical.

Looks like a distorted contrail to me. Hoof beats and zebras, and all that.

Yeah I read that too.Would have been more intriguing if a Dr. Evil type was making a ham fisted attempt at world domination.

The sunlight going through the contrail of the jet. As @marinelife has said.

I have seen that effect before with airline jets. I guess us here near the cape in Florida are more apt to see the difference. Watching rocket after rocket take off.
Making sense, of the explanation.

It’s either a contrail or a massive conspiracy. See here.

“massive conspiracy”, always every ones first choice. lol

Ahh see here in England Town the “story” just broke. Never saw that previous ? Still never mind hey.

A model rocket club launching a big ass model rocket from the deck of a boat?

Bob beat me to it; we discussed it pretty thoroughly there.

High Power Rocket enthusiasts usually take the laws and regulations VERY seriously.
As bad decisions could cripple the entire hobby.

I though of that too. As as possible as it could be. I highly doubt it.

Did he really need to emphasize that submarine was underwater? I mean, sub-marine literally means below water. Just sayin’.

Okay then, some moron with a lot of money and free time built a high powered model rocket and launched it from a boat. When I was a kid, I was into model rockets (the little Estes ones), and once you have the basic know-how and where to buy the parts, going big isn’t a problem.

Going big is not “a problem”. It is a process. A process extremely regulated by its peers. And associating with such peers you understand the seriousness of it.

I fly High Powered Rockets. It is like a “cult”. You just don’t do it because you want to. It is one of those you have to be in it to do it. The making of propellant properly or acquiring it is not as easy as walking into a hobby store.

Like I said it is possible but highly unlikely. :-)

She flies like a bird. Now that I like!

Very cool! Thanks for that @ucme.

British ingenuiety at it’s wacky best. oh & you’re welcome.

Okay, this is frustrating. I can’t find them at the moment with google. There’s too many hobby sites to search through. But I’ve seen rocketry supply sites that sell “model” rocket engines at the upper classes, so I know they’re available for sale. They’re BIG suckers! And if I recall correctly, they cost about $1000 each. Acquire a couple of these puppies, and the rest is basic model rocket building skill (knowing about center-of-gravity and center-of-mass and if you don’t know how they interact with each other, your rocket’s going to auger in).

I use Flight Aware for all my flight tracking needs. I can look in the sky, see a plane, jump to flight aware and it will ID the flights. With a couple of more clicks I can find out the plane registration, who owns it…..
Are you telling me not one genius knows which flight it is? If you know the time and location anyone with a little smarts can figure it out.
Also don’t NORAD and the boys know exactly where it is? I mean exactly! @ChazMaz you know the FAA radar would know it too. When you launch a big one it shows up. If it was a commercial flight they could ID it in a second. “Let’s see… at 5:35 PM 35 miles outside of LA? That was NW flight 6xz from Hong Kong.”
Why hasn’t anyone identified “the plane” yet? It could have been done within 30 seconds if it was truly a commercial plane.

Well, that’s just it, eh? The fact that it’s so easy to identity a commercial flight, and the fact that nobody has identified it, suggests whatever it was DIDN’T file a flight plan.

Air traffic control can see a flock of geese. The military can see single birds. With a couple of reference points you can figure out a trajectory. How long were the photographers able to film the thing? If it is a plane it will not accelerate significantly. If it is a ballistic missle it accelerate for at least the first 60–90 seconds. Short range anti missile missile will leap to 50000 feet in seconds. @ChazMaz ‘s stuff will leave a plume for 20 seconds. ICBMs will accelerate slowly and reach velocities 20x that of an aircraft but at altitudes that put it out of sight.
A car makes a different sound from a truck, A truck makes a different sound from a freight train. A plane, a ground to air missile, and an ICBM are equally different.
It should not be difficult to identify this from the signature of the exhaust plume and movement unless someone makes it difficult by not supplying the video.
Just sayin’.

It was the MythBusters trying to disprove one of Wile E. Coyote’s attempts at catching the RoadRunner.