Vandenberg launches GBI

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Ascending through the cloud of fire and smoke, a ground-based interceptor launched at approximately 3:45 p.m. here Sunday, Jan. 31, 2010. The launch was part of the 30th Space Wing and Missile Defense Agency's scheduled test of the ground-based interceptor system. (U.S. Air Force photo/Airman 1st Class Angelina Drake)

minute man III

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1 a.m. Nov. 5 from North Vandenberg. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly in which a single unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,190 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (U.S. Air Force photo /Joe Davila)

minute man III

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1 a.m. Nov. 5 from North Vandenberg. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly in which a single unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,190 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (U.S. Air Force photo /Joe Davila)

minute man III

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1 a.m. Nov. 5 from North Vandenberg. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly in which a single unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,190 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (U.S. Air Force photo /Joe Davila)

Vandenberg successfully launches Minuteman III

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1 a.m. Nov. 5 from North Vandenberg. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration test assembly in which a single unarmed re-entry vehicle traveled approximately 4,190 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. (U.S. Air Force photo / Airman 1st Class Andrew Lee)

Chimera launch

A Chimera target launch vehicle, which is a modified Minuteman booster vehicle with a simplified target payload, successfully launches at 11:57 p.m. September 23, 2008 from North Vandenberg. The launch was part of an exercise involving the tracking of a long-range target missile by the Near Field Infrared Experiment, or NFIRE, research satellite. (U.S. Air Force photo/Joe Davilla)