Atmospheric entry, then level flight for several minutes, plasma trail during entry then white sphere for flight phase.Object appeared to be a slow moving orange colored ball descending through cloud layer leaving a very long sparkly reflective trail of orange material. First impressions or thought was neat, followed by it looks like some sort of plasma trail. Estimate trail to be several miles long. Once object passed cloud base; typically around 3,000’, it leveled off and proceeded with straight and level flight for several minutes with a color change to brilliant white with no trail. After several minutes, object made slow 90 degree turn and flew away from my location. At one point object disappeared during level flight for about a minute, then reappeared. Object stayed visible during level flight maintaining its white color until it was so far away that it disappeared from view simply by distance and faded away. My personal opinion is this was obviously a controlled craft returning from orbit and I was lucky enough to witness the atmospheric entry phase of its flight. Its origin, or who was controlling it, is unknown. This is my first UFO sighting and found myself intrigued and fascinated by the whole experience.