Missile over Northern California?

Missile, or similar object, streamed across the evening sky over Northern California on Thursday September 19th, 2002
At approximately 7:40 pm a supersonic object left its contrails upon the evening sky over northern California. 20 seconds into its appearance over the horizon it Appeared to reach upper atmosphere as the telltale contrail was left behind and only the immediate delta of gas remained trailing the object. 10 seconds more into its northerly trajectory, its exhaust trail changed again with a brief pulse in the cone of gas. 5 seconds later the object appeared to terminate with traces of objects flying out in all directions.

No unclassified launches seem to have been scheduled from air force bases in California (such as Vandenberg). NASA's launch schedule is also empty for September. No news from any mainstream news sources.

Searching for corroboration or explanation. Thanks for your help.