Minuteman III launch from Vandenberg AFB, July 23, 2004

(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 1:01 A.M. on Friday, July 23.

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 216.4-second time exposure was taken with a Nikon D70 digital camera set to an effective film speed of 200 ASA with an f3.5 lens.

This was taken on Kodak Gold 200 negative film with an f2.5 lens.

This was taken on Kodak Max 400 negative film with an f2.5 lens.

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 .