An air carrier first officer reported what he believed to be a live missile firing near N37.04 W149....

Attributes
ACN	1424380
Time
Date	201702
Local Time Of Day	0001-0600
Place
Locale Reference	KZAK.ARTCC
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Night
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Widebody Low Wing 2 Turbojet Eng
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Oceanic
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Type 268
Person 2
Function	First Officer Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Total 5919 Flight Crew Type 881
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Narrative:

At approximately N3704 W14929 the captain and I saw what we believed to be a rocket/missile launch likely from a ship. There was a bright plume followed by residual smoke reaching high into the sky. Then we saw several more flashes that we believed were far in the distance. As we continued on course it became apparent that we were going to fly through the smoke trail of the rocket. This caused us concern due to potential air disturbance from the rocket and concern for another rocket going through the same piece of sky. We decided to turn left approximately 20-30 degrees to avoid it and request a deviation from ATC. After we avoided the smoke; we turned to rejoin the route. Then we received notification from ATC that deviation was denied. At this point I erroneously selected direct to the next fix. I should have selected heading-LNAV to rejoin the course. Could have been a vvm error as well. Several minutes later we received a message from ATC stating that we were 7 miles off course and requested a position report. We sent the position report then requested direct to our next filed waypoint. This was approved. The rest of the flight was uneventful and no further launches or flashes.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An air carrier First Officer reported what he believed to be a live missile firing near N37.04 W149.29. The flight deviated but ATC requested they return to track.

Narrative: At approximately N3704 W14929 the Captain and I saw what we believed to be a rocket/missile launch likely from a ship. There was a bright plume followed by residual smoke reaching high into the sky. Then we saw several more flashes that we believed were far in the distance. As we continued on course it became apparent that we were going to fly through the smoke trail of the rocket. This caused us concern due to potential air disturbance from the rocket and concern for another rocket going through the same piece of sky. We decided to turn left approximately 20-30 degrees to avoid it and request a deviation from ATC. After we avoided the smoke; we turned to rejoin the route. Then we received notification from ATC that deviation was denied. At this point I erroneously selected direct to the next fix. I should have selected HDG-LNAV to rejoin the course. Could have been a VVM error as well. Several minutes later we received a message from ATC stating that we were 7 miles off course and requested a position report. We sent the position report then requested direct to our next filed waypoint. This was approved. The rest of the flight was uneventful and no further launches or flashes.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

An air carrier first officer reported what he believed to be a live missile firing near N37.04 W149.29. The flight deviated but ATC requested they return to track.