Blacknad wrote:
"thirty thousand miles an hour"

The earth's atmosphere is 100 miles thick.
The earth's circumference is 24,900 miles.
By the time they had watched it for a fraction of a second it would have been over the horizon.

Dismiss this as one of two things:

1. Very creative story telling.
2. Electronics being tested that were designed to give misinformation to radar.

DA Morgan