(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any
picture below.)
Minuteman III launch from Vandenberg AFB, September 7, 2005 |
(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any
picture below.)
A Minuteman III missile was launched on a suborbital trajectory toward Kwajalein Atoll from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 1:53 A.M. on Wednesday, September 7, 2005.
The Air Force periodically launches Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles to demonstrate that they still work. They select a missile at random and pull it out of its silo. They bring the missile and a regular missile crew to VAFB. The crew launches the missile toward the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalien.
This 178.4-second time exposure was taken with a Nikon D70s digital camera set to an effective film speed of ISO 320 with the 18mm lens aperture set to f3.5.
Following the separation of the first stage, it blinked as it tumbled end over end in a ballistic trajectary below the ascending upper stages.
The launch left an expanding cloud of exhaust products.
You can buy a 2006 calendar featuring my photographs of Rocket Launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Reduced price: $13.95!
A dozen photos of rocket and missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base. Daytime launches include:
Titan IV/National Reconnaissance Office satellite, December 20, 1996,
Atlas IIAS/Terra, December 18, 1999, and
Delta II/Iridium, February 11, 2002.
Time exposures capture the arching trajectories of:
Delta II/Iridium, November 8, 1997,Satellite payloads include:
Titan IV/National Reconnaissance Office satellite, May 22, 1999,
Titan II/Coriolis, January 6, 2003,
Minuteman III, September 10, 2003,
Atlas IIAS/National Reconnaissance Office satellite, December 2, 2003,
LGM-118 MX, July 21, 2004,
Delta II/AURA, July 15, 2004,
Minuteman II, July 23, 2004, and
Delta II/NOAA-18, May 20, 2005.
National Reconnaissance Office satellite, December 20, 1996,
National Reconnaissance Office satellite, May 22, 1999,
Terra, December 18, 1999,
Iridium, February 11, 2002,
Coriolis, January 6, 2003,
National Reconnaissance Office satellite, December 2, 2003,
AURA, July 15, 2004, and
NOAA-18, May 20, 2005.
Put a copy of the Rocket Launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base: 2006 Calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $13.95.
More Vandenberg AFB
launch photography.
Link to the Federation of American Scientists' Minuteman missile page.
Link to the Federation of American Scientists' National Missile Defense page.
Link to the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) National Missile Defense (NMD) page.
Link to the Strategic Air Command's Minuteman Missile page.
The home page of the 
30th Space
Wing
Brian Webb's Space Archive Page provides launch schedule and ham radio information.
Send a message to Brian .