[Launch Alert] Friday Missile Launch

[Brian Webb]

                            LAUNCH ALERT

			           Brian Webb
		         Ventura County, California
		        E-mail: kd6nrp at earthlink.net
	         Web Site: http://www.spacearchive.info

				            2004 July 21 (Wednesday) 20:07 PDT
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                        MINUTEMAN III LAUNCH
                     Vandenberg AFB News Release

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. – An unarmed Minuteman III
intercontinental ballistic missile is scheduled for launch from North
Vandenberg Friday morning* as part of the Force Development Evaluation
Program. The six-hour launch window is from 1:01 to 7:01 a.m. The
purpose of the launch is to verify the continued reliability and
accuracy of the Minuteman III ICBM force.

A task force from the 90th Space Wing, F.E. Warren Air Force Base,
Wyo., led by Capt. Jason Briggs, will launch the missile under the
direction of the 576th Flight Test Squadron here. Capt. Barry Little,
576th FLTS, is the launch director.

Col. Frank Wolfe, 30th Space Wing vice commander, is the spacelift
commander. The mission director is Lt. Col. Anthony Blaylock, 576th
FLTS commander. Members of the 576th FLTS installed tracking,
telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data
and meet safety requirements.

The missile’s single unarmed re-entry vehicle is expected to travel
approximately 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting a
pre-determined target at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western
chain of the Marshall Islands. The nation’s ICBMs are a key component
of global stability – a safe, secure and affordable weapon system
that delivers deterrence.

  * If the weather is clear, this event may be visible as far away
    as Nevada, Arizona, and Utah. - Editor

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