[Launch Alert] Vandenberg AFB Launch Schedule

Tue May 16 20:37:16 EDT 2006

                             LAUNCH ALERT

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

				               2006 May 16 (Tuesday) 17:37 PDT
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		       VANDENBERG AFB LAUNCH SCHEDULE
			       As of 2006 May 15

		    Launch
		  Time/Window
  Date         (PST/PDT)		   Vehicle		Pad/Silo
--------	---------------		-------------	--------
JUN 14	To be announced		Minuteman III	LF-04
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads. Impact area is probably the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. The Air Force will announce the launch window a
few days in advance.

JUN 27	To be announced		Delta IV		SLC-6
Classified National Reconnaissance Office payload. The DoD will
announce the exact launch time several hours in advance. NRO L-22

JUL 19	To be announced		Minuteman III	LF-09
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads. Impact area is probably the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. The Air Force will announce the launch window a
few days in advance.

SEP?		To be announced		Minuteman III	---
ICBM test launch (non-orbital). Payload is one or more unarmed
warheads. Impact area is probably the Reagan Test Site at Kwajalein in
the central Pacific. The Air Force will announce the launch window a
few days in advance.

SEP 29	13:22-13:28			Pegasus XL		Offshore
Payload is the AIM satellite. Airborne launch.

OCT 6		To be announced		Delta IV		SLC-6
Payload is the DMSP F-17 military weather satellite

NOV 15	To be announced		Atlas V		SLC-3E
Classified National Reconnaissance Office payload. The DoD will
announce the exact launch time several hours in advance. NRO L-28

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                       VANDENBERG LAUNCH MOVED

Launch Alert has learned that the Falcon I rocket/TacSat-1 launch
scheduled for this spring from Vandenberg AFB has been moved.
According to an industry source, the launch is now set for December
from Kwajalein atoll in the central Pacific.

The vehicle was also originally slated carry the ashes of U.S.
astronaut Gordon Cooper, Star Trek actor James "Scotty" Doohan, and
several other people. The ashes are apparently now scheduled to
lift-off from Vandenberg AFB aboard a different Falcon I booster
during the December 2006-January 2007 time frame.

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      BOEING AWARDED $25.2 MILLION CONTRACT TO SUPPORT MINUTEMAN
                        FLIGHT TEST PROGRAM
                        Boeing News Release

ST. LOUIS -- The U.S. Air Force has awarded Boeing [NYSE: BA]
Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) Systems a $25.2 million
contract to support the Minuteman Force Development Evaluation flight
test program at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Minuteman ICBM
is a three-stage, solid-fueled strategic missile.

The Boeing team will provide hardware for command destruct operations
-- a system that destroys a launch vehicle when vehicle performance
degrades enough to be a safety hazard -- and the transmission of
missile data during flight tests. A Boeing-designed flight
instrumentation wafer will enable the Air Force to obtain data to
evaluate the missile's in-flight reliability and accuracy.

First deployed in the 1960s, there are now 500 Minuteman ICBMs
deployed in the nation's arsenal.

"This contract is a tribute to the expertise of our more than 500
ICBM employees in Utah, California, Ohio and at the Air Force's ICBM
field locations," said Dave Hicks, Boeing's Anaheim, Calif.-based ICBM
program manager. "Our employees take great pride in supporting the Air
Force by providing this flight test instrumentation wafer."

The contract calls for work to be completed by January 2010.

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