"A timer, Sims said, sparked the rocket's fiery engines. ""It came blasting through the clouds and you got a good view of it,"" he recalled. It rocketed to 30,000 feet, Sims said -- more than 10,000 feet above the C-5. ""It looked like a missile launch from Cape Canaveral,"" said Sims. It burned for about 25 seconds, and then ""cascaded into the Pacific Ocean."""