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Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base is a sprawling space and missile hub, located on California’s Central Coast. Situated northwest of Los Angeles, the base is larger in acreage than the nearby cities of Lompoc, Santa Maria and Guadalupe combined. Vandenberg supports a population greater than 18,000, comprised of military, family members, contractors, and civilian employees.

The base was originally established in 1941 as the US Army’s Camp Cooke. The facility served as a training center for armored and infantry troops through World War II and again in the Korean War. The base was transferred to the US Air Force in 1957 and began its transformation into a space and ballistic missile test facility. The year after, the base was renamed after General Hoyt S. Vandenberg, second chief of staff of the Air Force.

In 1972, Vandenberg was selected as the West Coast Space Shuttle launch and landing site. Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6, pronounced as "Slick Six"), originally built for the abandoned Manned Orbiting Laboratory project, was extensively modified for Shuttle operations. SLC-6 was nearly ready for its first Shuttle launch (STS-62A) when the Challenger disaster grounded the program and set in motion a chain of events that led to the cancellation of all West Coast Shuttle flights. It has since been rebuilt to support polar-orbit satellite launches.

Operated by the Air Force Space Command’s 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg AFB is the only military base in the United States from which unpiloted government and commercial spacecraft are launched into polar orbit. It is also the only site from which intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) are routinely test fired into the Pacific Ocean.

posted by: kyawoo at 23:38 | link | comments |
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