On 1999 December 12 a refurbished Titan II ICBM lifted-off from Vandenberg AFB and inserted the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F-15 military weather satellite into a polar orbit. The webmaster covered the launch from the base for a news organization and was able to take a few still photos.

This image was taken during the Titan II first stage burn just before staging. The vehicle had a transparent flame and produced no trail except when it passed through the contrail zone - about 35,000-40,000 feet - as shown here. The tiny spot at the top of the trail is the rocket. This is a view looking up the contrail as the vehicle climbed steeply towards the south.

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