[Launch Alert] Minuteman III Launch

[Brian Webb]

                             LAUNCH ALERT

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

				          2006 February 14 (Tuesday) 18:18 PST
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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 to launch from North
Vandenberg Thursday morning as part of a developmental test to
demonstrate the ability to integrate modified products into weapons
systems. The six-hour launch window is from 12:01 a.m. to 6:01 a.m.
PST.

The missile will launch under the direction of the 576th Flight Test
Squadron here.

Col. Jack Weinstein, 30th Space Wing commander, is the spacelift
commander.  The mission director is Lt. Col. Stephen Davis, 576th
FLTS commander.  Members of the 576th FLTS 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 4,800 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.


As of this morning, the probability of acceptable weather at launch
time was estimated to be only 20% - Editor

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