The Southwest's Source for Space and Astronomy Information

For a complete listing of all recent and past Vandenberg launches, go to Vandenberg AFB Launch History. To access launch photos, videos, and audio reports, visit the Vandenberg Rocket and Missile Launch Multimedia library.

A series of flat-bottomed valleys flank Elysium Mons, a shield volcano on the planet Mars. Many of the valleys may have first formed by movement along faults. Then mud or lava flows could have widened the sides of the valleys, giving them a flat floor. The image was captured by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and released by the University of Arizona on June 25.The camera is controlled from the university's campus in Tucson. Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

(JUN 24) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile configured with a joint test assembly is scheduled to launch from North Vandenberg Monday between 3:01 a.m. to 9:01 a.m. More

(JUN 18) NASA's Quick Scatterometer, or QuikScat, mission was conceived, developed and launched less than two years after the unexpected loss of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's Advanced Earth Observing Satellite-1 spacecraft, which carried the NASA Scatterometer in June 1997. More

Late spring turns to summer in British Columbia in this image captured by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite on 2009 June 3. The snow is melting off the Coast Mountains and the vegetation is turning brilliant green, though to the north, hints of winter's brown remain. The image is one of many gathered by Aqua since its launch aboard a Delta rocket from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base in 2002.

(JUN 10) PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has been assembled and is undergoing final preparations for a planned Nov. 1 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. More

(JUN 3) EL SEGUNDO, Calif., June 3, 2009 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) has received confirmation from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory that its hyperspectral imaging sensor known as ARTEMIS has been activated aboard the TacSat-3 spacecraft and is fully functional.

The milestone continues Raytheon's 40-year history of on-orbit success. Activation also marks the beginning of the year-long TacSat-3 mission to test the payload's ability to deliver tactical surveillance information from space to military field commanders within 10 minutes of data acquisition.

ARTEMIS was developed in 15 months as an experiment in rapid deployment funded by a $15 million contract from the laboratory. Data collection is scheduled to begin within days as part of the program's goal of demonstrating the ability to design, build and field space solutions in tactically relevant time frames.

Consisting of a trio of components (telescope, spectrometer and on-board digital signal processor), the payload will image the ground at high spatial resolution in a broad range of the visible and infrared spectrum. It can be directed to search for camouflage, disturbed earth and other signs of enemy activity.

Raytheon

New radio surveys could turn up many supernovas hidden within gas and dust

(MAY 27) Berkeley -- The chance discovery last month of a rare radio supernova - an exploding star seen only at radio wavelengths and undetected by optical or X-ray telescopes - underscores the promise of new, more sensitive radio surveys to find supernovas hidden by gas and dust. More

Granulation and a wealth of fine detail are visible in this "first light" image from the Big Bear Solar Observatory's new 1.6-meter clear aperture solar telescope, the largest of its kind in the world. Located high above sea level in Big Bear Lake, California, the instrument will be the pathfinder for all future, large ground-based telescopes. Image: Big Bear Solar Observatory

(MAY 20) HUNTSVILLE, Ala. -- NASA and industry engineers successfully completed the first test of the Ares I rocket's three main parachutes Wednesday. The parachutes -- the largest rocket parachutes ever manufactured -- are designed to slow the rapid descent of the rocket's spent first-stage motor, permitting its recovery for use on future flights.

The Ares I, the first rocket in NASA's Constellation Program, is designed to launch explorers aboard the Orion crew capsule on journeys to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond. The three main parachutes measure 150 feet in diameter and weigh 2,000 pounds each. They are a primary element of the rocket's deceleration system, which also includes a pilot parachute and drogue parachute. Deployed in a cluster, the main parachutes open at the same time, providing the drag necessary to slow the descent of the huge solid rocket motor to a soft landing in the ocean.

Engineers from Marshall managed the team that conducted this first cluster test at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Ariz. This was the eighth in an ongoing series of flight tests supporting development of the Ares I recovery system. Researchers dropped the 41,500-pound load from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet. The parachutes and all test hardware functioned properly and landed safely.

NASA

(MAY 11) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - The scheduled operational test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile is delayed to allow for additional data collection while in the operational ground configuration. A new launch date has yet to be established.

"We are working with the Western Range to establish a new launch date at their earliest convenience," said Lt. Col. Lesa Toler, 576th Flight Test Squadron commander. "It's not an easy process as the Western Range, Pacific Missile Range and Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein Atoll are all extremely busy and have competing priorities to de-conflict."

"Our additional testing though will allow us to further improve the operational effectiveness of the nation's most powerful weapon system," Lieutenant Colonel Toler said.

Vandenberg Air Force Base Public Affairs will release the new launch date once it becomes available.

Vandenberg AFB

(MAY 5) VANDENBERG AFB, Calif. - Vandenberg successfully launched a Delta II rocket from Space Launch Complex-2 today at 1:24 p.m. More

A rainbow of colors depicts the average temperature of the top millimeter of the Earth's land areas over a nine year period. To create this map (click to enlarge), researchers used measurements from NASA's Terra satellite gathered between 2000 December 1 and 2008 December 31 under clear sky conditions. In this view, yellow shows the warmest temperatures (up to 45° C) and light blue shows the coldest temperatures (down to -25°C). Terra was launched from Vandenberg AFB in 1999 December. Image courtesy of NASA

(APR 30) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Delta II rocket is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex-2 here, between 1:24 and 1:52 p.m. May 5.

The rocket will carry an experimental satellite into polar orbit to perform the Missile Defense Agency's Space Tracking and Surveillance System Advanced Technology Risk Reduction mission.

Col. Steven Winters, the 30th Space Wing vice commander, is the Western Range launch decision authority for this mission.

The purpose of the STSS ATRR mission is to enhance MDA's Ballistic Missile Defense System. It will serve as a space based component of a multi-layered system designed to detect, track and intercept ballistic missiles.

Launch preparation is on schedule, with the final launch rehearsal scheduled for May 1; this shake-down run will be the final opportunity to work out any lingering glitches, according to mission planners.

To perform this launch, 30th Space Wing personnel are working in conjunction with the United Launch Alliance, NASA and MDA.

Vandenberg AFB

(APR 24) EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA], industry teammates and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency have begun Airborne Laser (ABL) flight tests with the entire weapon system integrated aboard the ABL aircraft. More

Sometimes seen by Earth-based observers, spokes within Saturn's rings are clearly visible in a Cassini spacecraft image released by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on April 14. Cassini acquired the view with its wide angle camera from a distance of 510,000 miles (821,000 kilometers) from the planet. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA. Image courtesy NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

(APR 18) Next Wednesday (April 22) observers in the southwestern U.S. have an opporunity to see the planet Venus perform a rare disappearing act.

Refered to as an "occultation", the event will occur as the Moon's eastward orbital motion carries it in front of the silvery-white planet, hiding it from view.

As seen from Los Angeles, Venus will disappear behind the Moon during morning twilight at 05:09 PDT. The planet will reappear from behind the Moon just before sunrise at 05:56 PDT.

The event should be easily visible to the unaided eye. However, to see it, you will need an unobstructed eastern horizon.

Brian Webb

(APR 8) MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. - Engineers have successfully ejected the dust cover from NASA's Kepler telescope.

Kepler, which launched on March 6 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., will spend three-and-a-half years staring at more than 100,000 stars in our Milky Way galaxy for signs of Earth-size planets. Some of the planets are expected to orbit in a star's "habitable zone," a warm region where water could pool on the surface. The mission's science instrument, called a photometer, contains the largest camera ever flown in space -- its 42 charge-coupled devices (CCDs) will detect slight dips in starlight, which occur when planets passing in front of their stars partially block the light from Kepler's view.

At 7:13 p.m. PDT on April 7, engineers at Kepler's mission operations center at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, Boulder, Colo., sent commands to pass an electrical current through a "burn wire" to break the wire and release a latch holding the cover closed. The spring-loaded cover swung open on a fly-away hinge, before drifting away from the spacecraft.

Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA's Ames Research Center Ames is the home organization of the science principal investigator, and is responsible for the ground system development, mission operations and science data analysis. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo., is responsible for developing the Kepler flight system and supporting mission operations.

Ames Research Center

A new impact crater scars the martian surface in this Mars Reconnaisance Orbiter image released April 1. The feature formed between 2005 February and July and was captured by the HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Experiment) camera aboard the NASA spacecraft. The camera is controlled from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Image: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

(MAR 30) Just before dawn on Oct. 7, 2008, an SUV-sized asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and exploded harmlessly over the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan. Scientists expected the asteroid, called 2008 TC3, had blown to dust in the resulting high-altitude fireball. More

(MAR 24) SCHRIEVER AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- The 2nd and 19th Space Operations Squadrons here assumed control of the Air Force's newest GPS satellite shortly after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., March 24. More

A 68-foot diameter parachute or "super-chute" lowers a dummy rocket motor to the desert floor during a test at Arizona's Yuma Proving Ground on February 28. The motor was released from a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo aircraft flying at 25,000 feet. The test was conducted to evaluate a prototype parachute system to recover the resuable booster for Ares, NASA's program to return to the Moon. Image courtesy of NASA

(MAR 18) SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Aerojet, a GenCorp (NYSE: GY) company, announced today that its two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) boost motors performed optimally during a THAAD flight test yesterday at the Pacific Missile Range in Kauai, Hawaii.

THAAD is a mobile missile defense technology designed to intercept and destroy short- to medium-range ballistic missiles during the final, or terminal, phase of their flight, and provides broad area coverage against threats to critical assets such as population centers, industrial resources and military forces.

Aerojet manufactures THAAD boost motors for Lockheed Martin Corporation, the prime contractor and systems integrator supplying the system to the Missile Defense Agency.

For this salvo test, two interceptors were launched at a single target. The incoming target was acquired by tracking radar, and both interceptors were launched to intercept the target. The first interceptor destroyed the target, and the second interceptor was destroyed by range safety officers as planned.

Aerojet

(MAR 13) A group of cockroaches recently took a ride on a high-altitude balloon launched into space by freshmen aerospace engineering students from the University of California, San Diego. More

A Taurus XL rocket carrying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory lifts-off from Vandenberg AFB at 1:55 a.m. on February 24. Minutes later, the payload shroud failed to separate from the Taurus, causing the vehicle and the payload to splash in the ocean near Antarctica. U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Andrew Lee.

(MAR 5) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An inspection team from the Russian Federation departed here today at 8:11 a.m. after completing an on-site verification for compliance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.

The team arrived Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. to conduct the inspection. The United States sends similar teams to inspect former Soviet strategic weapon facilities. The reciprocal inspections are an element of the START I accord which was signed in 1991 and went into force in 1994.

Vandenberg AFB

(FEB 24) PASADENA -- NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory satellite failed to reach orbit after its 1:55 a.m. PST liftoff Tuesday from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Preliminary indications are that the fairing on the Taurus XL launch vehicle failed to separate. The fairing is a clamshell structure that encapsulates the satellite as it travels through the atmosphere.

A Mishap Investigation Board will be immediately convened to determine the cause of the launch failure. For more information, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This astronaut photograph (click to enlarge) released February 9 highlights the Santa Barbara, California, area, sometimes called the “American Riviera.” The geographic setting of the city — between the Santa Barbara Channel to the south and the steep Santa Ynez Mountains to the north — and its year-round mild climate evoke the Mediterranean Riviera. The image was acquired in 2008 December with a Nikon D2Xs digital camera fitted with an 800 mm lens. The photo was cropped and enhanced to improve contrast. Image courtesy of NASA

(FEB 19) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A Taurus XL rocket, carrying the NASA Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite, is scheduled to launch at approximately 1:50 a.m. Tuesday from Space Launch Complex 576-E here.

Col. David Buck, 30th Space Wing commander, will be the Western Range launch decision authority for this mission.

The OCO is the first spacecraft dedicated to the study of carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere. The goal of the satellite is to increase scientific understanding of not only where carbon dioxide comes from, but also where it ends up.

Vandenberg AFB

(FEB 12) Launched in September of 2007, and propelled by any one of a trio of hyper-efficient ion engines, NASA's Dawn spacecraft passed the orbit of Mars last summer. More

A United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket carrying the NOAA-N Prime weather satellite blasts off from Space Launch Complex-2 West at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 2:22 a.m. PST on February 6. After a 65-minute flight, the spacecraft was successfully placed in its assigned orbit. Photo by Carleton Bailie, United Launch Alliance

(FEB 6) Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. – A United Launch Alliance Delta II successfully launched the NASA NOAA-N Prime spacecraft at 2:22 a.m. PST, today. More

(JAN 30) VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A Delta II rocket is scheduled to launch from Space Launch Complex-2 here, Wednesday.

The rocket will be carrying NOAA-N Prime polar-orbiting weather satellite for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Col. Dave Buck, 30th Space Wing commander, will be the western range launch decision authority for this mission.

The satellite will improve weather forecasting and monitor environmental events around the world. NOAA-N Prime is the fifth and last in the current series of five polar-orbiting satellites with improved imaging and sounding capabilities.

The satellite will collect meteorological data and transmit the information to NOAA's Satellite and Information Service, which processes the data for input to the National Weather Service for its long-range weather and climate forecasts. Forecasters worldwide also will be able to access the satellite's images and data.

NOAA-N Prime has sensors that will be used in the Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking System to monitor for distress signals around the world.

Vandenberg AFB

New Mexico State University’s Physical Science Laboratory’s Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility (CSBF) help launch a super pressure pumpkin balloon from McMurdo Station in Antarctica into a record-setting flight. Sent aloft on December 27, 2008, the balloon is the largest successful single cell super pressure balloon ever flown and has been flying at an altitude of 110,000 feet since launch. Pictured is the balloon during inflation. NMSU photo by Mike Smith, Aerostar International

(JAN 23) Picture a tree in the forest. The tree "inhales" carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, transforming that greenhouse gas into the building materials and energy it needs to grow its branches and leaves. More

(JAN 15) The UA is part of a new National Science Foundation Center for Chemical Innovation, a collaboration called the Center for Chemistry of the Universe. More

Obscured in visible light by dust, a new population of massive stars and new detail in the center of the Milky Way is revealed in a composite infrared image released January 5 by the American Astronomical Society. The panorama combines infrared imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) and the Spitzer Space Telescope. NICMOS was developed by a team led by the University of Arizona. Image courtesy NASA, ESA and Q.D. Wang, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

(JAN 7) Santa Barbara, Calif. -- A team of NASA-funded scientists, including two from UC Santa Barbara, have discovered cosmic radio noise that they find completely unexpected and exciting. More

Past News