Space West: The Western Test Range (for Polar Orbits) ~ 1968 NASA-USAF Vandenberg Air Force Base

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• published: 28 Sep 2016
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NASA & Space Miscellany playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_hX5wLdhf_K3mK1TZNCkmdD-JMZYGew1 more at http://scitech.quickfound.net/ "A documentary on operations at NASA's Western Test Range." Shows the launch Alouette 1 on Sept 29, 1962, Echo 2 on Jan 25, 1964, Nimbus 1 on Aug 28, 1964, ESSA 3 (TOS-A) on Oct 2, 1965 (not Oct 22, as stated in the film), FR-1A, and more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alouette_1 Public domain film from NASA, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied. The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original). http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vandenberg_Air_Force_Base Vandenberg Air Force Base (IATA: VBG, ICAO: KVBG, FAA LID: VBG) is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately 9.2 miles (14.8 km) northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). Vandenberg AFB is a Department of Defense space and missile testing base, with a mission of placing satellites into polar orbit from the West Coast, using expendable boosters (Pegasus, Taurus, Minotaur, Atlas V and Delta IV). Wing personnel also support the Service's LGM-30G Minuteman III... The base is named in honor of former Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt S. Vandenberg... Early space exploration Vandenberg launched the world's first polar orbiting satellite, Discoverer I on 28 February 1959. The launch vehicle for this mission consisted of a Thor-Agena combination. The Discoverer series of satellites provided other significant firsts for Vandenberg... Shrouded in a cover story of scientific research, Discoverer was actually the cover name for Corona, America's first photo reconnaissance satellite program... Over the years, unmanned satellites of every description and purpose, including international satellites, were placed in orbit from Vandenberg by a widening variety of boosters. Among the parade of newer space boosters are the Titan IV (March 1991), Taurus (March 1994), Pegasus (April 1995), Delta II (February 1996), Atlas IIAS (December 1999), Minotaur (2000), and beginning in late 2005, the Falcon 1, the Delta IV, and Atlas V vehicles. The most ambitious Air Force endeavors at Vandenberg were the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) and the Space Shuttle programs. The MOL vehicle consisted of a Titan III booster carrying a modified Gemini space capsule (Gemini B) attached to a space laboratory. Construction work for MOL began at Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) on South Vandenberg in March 1966. President Richard Nixon canceled the estimated $3 billion program in June 1969... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Range The Western Range (WR) is the space launch range that supports the major launch head at Vandenberg Air Force Base. Managed by the 30th Space Wing, the WR extends from the West Coast of the United States to 90 degrees East longitude in the Indian Ocean where it meets the Eastern Range Operations involve military, government, and commercial interests. The WR is operated under by a civilian contractor since its establishment, following the precedent of the Eastern Range. On 2003-10-01, InDyne Inc. took over the range contract from ITT Industries which had operated the range for the previous 44 years... History Navy's Pacific Missile Range (PMR) The Navy established the Naval Missile Facility at Point Arguello (NMFPA) after transfer from Army of 19,800 acres from the southern portion of Camp Cooke, a World War II training and POW facility then a maximum security Disciplinary Barracks site, in May 1958... nearly all launches from Vandenberg came under the command and control of Navy and the PMR. Air Force—Western Test Range Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara directed restructure of the missile ranges on 16 November 1963 with the effective date of 1 July 1964 on which major sections of the Navy's Pacific Missile Range were transferred to the United States Air Force. In a final transfer on 1 February 1965 the Air Force, with headquarters at Vandenberg Air Force Base, took control of Pillar Point, California, two sites in Hawaii, Canton Island, Midway Island, and Wake Island in the mid-Pacific as well as Eniwetok and Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands... In 1979 the name was shortened to simply the Western Test Range.