VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - An unarmed Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile is set to launch Wednesday during a six-hour launch window beginning at 1:01 a.m.
The launch is a combined effort by the 30th Space Wing and the 576th Flight Test Squadron here and the 90th Space Wing, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. Members of the 576th FLTS are performing maintenance, launch and test activities for this mission. Col. Frank Wolfe, 30th Space Wing vice commander, is the spacelift commander, or final go-for-launch authority, for this mission.
The Peacekeeper missile was randomly selected from operational missiles at F.E. Warren and is part of the Force Development Evaluation program, which is used routinely to verify the accuracy and reliability of the ICBM force.
Using pressurized gas, the 70-foot long, 198,000-pound vehicle is ejected 50 feet out of the launch facility before the first of four boosters ignite. The missile will travel approximately 4,800 miles toward the Kwajalein Missile Range where 8 unarmed re-entry vehicles will land at a predetermined target.
The Air Force conducted its first successful test flight of the Peacekeeper missile from Vandenberg June 17, 1983. For more information about the Peacekeeper missile, check out the fact sheet on line at www.peterson.af.mil/hqafspc.
Copyright © 2004, Brian Webb. All rights reserved.