[Launch Alert] Wednesday Minuteman Launch

[Brian Webb]

                             LAUNCH ALERT

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

				               2005 May 31 (Tuesday) 16:48 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 Wednesday morning as part of a developmental test to
demonstrate the ability to integrate modified products into the weapon
system. The six-hour launch window is from 1:01 a.m. to 7:01 a.m. PDT.

The missile will launch under the direction of the 576th Flight Test
Squadron here. Capt. Kelvin Dumas, 576th FLTS, is the launch
director.

Col. Frank Wolf, 30th Space Wing vice commander, is the spacelift
commander. The mission director is Lt. Col. Anthony Baylock, 576th
FLTS commander. Members of the 595th Space Group here 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.

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