These are the launches illustrated on
the page below. Click on a link to go directly to that launch. Vandenberg Air Force Base Launches
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These are the launches illustrated on
the page below. Click on a link to go directly to that launch.
Delta 2, Midcourse Space Experiment satellite, April 24, 1996
Titan 2G/Clementine, January 25, 1994
Delta/Cosmic Background Explorer, November 19, 1989
Delta/Infra-Red Astronomical Satellite, January 1983
Delta/Landsat D, July 19, 1982
(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any picture below.)
A Titan IV carrying an undisclosed
Department of Defence payload was launched at 10:04 A. M. on
Friday December 20, 1996 from Space Launch Complex 4E at
Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Time exposure of a Peacekeeper
launched Thursday, May 30, 1996 at 1:01 A.M.
A Titan IV carrying a Department of Defence sea surface surveillance payload was launched at 2:32 P. M. on Sunday, May 12, 1996 from Vandenberg Air Force Base. I was parked on Ocean Road west of Lompoc, about 4 miles from SLC-4.
A few
seconds after 2:32, the Titan
rose silently from behind the hills which blocked our view of the
launch pad.
Shortly after this picture was taken, the first sudden sound from
the rocket smacked us hard.
Vapor
billows around the payload shroud
as dynamic pressure approaches maximum.
The solid fuel boosters are jettisoned
after burnout.
The boosters fallaway from the
accelerating core vehicle.
The smoke trail hanging over the launch
pad. 28mm lens.
The smoke trail leading downrange,
toward the southeast. 28mm lens.
This P-3 Orion from the Naval Air
Weapons Center at Pt. Mugu approached from the west shortly after
the launch. It must have had a nice view.
The Midcourse
Space Experiment satellite was launched by a Delta 2 shortly
before dawn on Wednesday, April 24, 1996. The rising sun
illuminated its exhaust trail.
Fog in
the Santa Ynez Valley discouraged me from trying to get out to
Surf Beach, so I headed up to the crest of the Santa Ynez
mountains to photograph this sunrise Delta
launch in October 1995.
This
time exposure of a Peacekeeper
launch in March 1995 was taken in Goleta. Comparison with the
photo above shows the difference between the launch trajectory
for a polar orbit and that for an ICBM suborbital flight to
Kwajalein Atoll, 8,000 miles and thirty minutes away.
Time
exposure of an Atlas launched in
January 1995 photographed from Goleta. The break in the streak is
a palm tree.
Clementine
starts its journey to the moon on January 25, 1994 from Space
Launch Complex 4W (SLC-4W) on a refurbished Titan 2G ICBM.
SLC-4E, which is used for Titan IV launches is seen to the left.
Members of the Planetary Society were hosted by the Air Force at
the airfield on the base. It is a bit farther from the launch pad
than Ocean Drive, but has a direct view of it.
Titan II/Clementine Launch from Vandenberg AFB, January 25, 1994: The Clementine mission was launched to the Moon by a Titan II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on January 25, 1994. In the minutes before launch, a Bell-UH-1 Huey patrolled the base and a fire truck demonstrated its capability.
The twisted trail of a Peacekeeper
launched July 14, 1993.
Detail shot of the same Peacekeeper
launch.
The Cosmic
Background Explorer (COBE) launched at sunrise on a Delta on
November 19, 1989. The launch pad was still dark, but the Delta
climbed into the sunlight shortly after launch. We could see the
first set of six solid fuel boosters fall away.
From our point of view, the Delta carrying COBE passed close to
the setting moon.
After the launch, the change in
illumination is evident along the smoke trail of the Delta which passes close to the
moon. Note the shadows the trail casts on the atmosphere.
Time exposure of the launch of another Navy Scout carrying Oscar satellites.
This was shot from Lake Los Carneros in Goleta on August 24,
1988. Scattered clouds obscure portions of the streak of light
I
think this might be the trail of a Peacekeeper
launched on May 14, 1988, as seen from Santa Barbara. Venus
appears again at the top, and Mercury is visible near the horizon
a little to the right.
This is the trail from a Navy Scout
rocket launched on April 25, 1988 a couple of hours after the
launch as seen from Goleta, about 50 miles from the lauch site. I
think it carried Oscar navigation satellites.
This is a detail of the trail from that Navy Scout. The planet Venus shines at
top center.
A night Delta Launch. Infrared Astronomical Satellite
(IRAS) launched in January 1983 photographed from Surf Beach.
It was an overcast day on July 19, 1982 when Landsat D was launched on a Delta.
Surf Beach at the end of Ocean Drive provides a good view of the
launch pad from about 8 miles away.
More photographs of rocket and missile launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base from 1997
to the present.
.
Link to the home page of the 
30th
Space Wing
Call the Vandenberg Air Force Base Launch Hotline at (805) 606-1857 for current launch schedule information.
The So Cal Sky Lights web site has rocket launches and other sky phenomena.
Link to the NASA rocket launch manifest
For national and international space coverage visit SPACE.com
Brian Webb's Rawhide Space Page provides launch schedule and ham radio information.
You can buy a 2020 calendar featuring my photographs of rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Photos of thirteen rocket launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base:
Pegasus-XL/Wide-Field Infra-red Explorer (WIRE) March 4, 1999
Atlas-IIAS/Terra December 18, 1999
Delta II/Gravity Probe B, April 20, 2004
Minotaur/Streak September 22, 2005
Titan IV/National Reconnaissance Office satellite, October 19, 2005
Minuteman III, February 16, 2006
Minuteman III, April 2, 2008
Target Launch Vehicle, September 24, 2008
Delta-II/GeoEye 1, September 6, 2008
Delta II/Jason 2, June 20, 2008
Delta II/COSMO-Skymed, October 24, 2008
Taurus/Orbiting Carbon Observatory, February 24, 2009
Delta-II/Worldview 2, October 28, 2009
Put a copy of the Rocket Launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base: 2020 Calendar in your Lulu.com shopping cart for $14.95.
Send a message to Brian.
Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.
