| CA3096 |
CLUI Archive Photo |
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Military |
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| A major military and aerospace site, Vandenberg is the United States' only West Coast space launch complex, and one of only two major space launch facilities in the country (the other is at Cape Canaveral, FL). This remote Central California base covers 98,400 acres, has 35 miles of coastline, and a population of 13,000 (though several thousand workers live off base). Vandenberg is split into two basic areas: North Base, where the main base is located, and the more secure South Base, where satellites are launched. ICBM missile tests are launched from the north launch complexes, with missile impact areas more than 4,000 miles away. ICBM crew training takes place here, with a missile silo control center for training Air Force missileers, who are later transfered to one of 500 active underground silos in the Plain States. Several hundred satellites have been launched into orbit from facilities at South Base, including numerous classified payloads. Vandenberg is located at the eastern end of the Western Test Range, which is a vast missile testing area, with a network of monitoring and telemetry sites that extend past islands in the Western Pacific, all the way to the Indian Ocean. |
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| Tours generally not offered, though some outsiders have been permitted in to areas in the North Base. |
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| 55 miles N of Santa Barbara, three miles N of Lompoc |
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| CA |
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| Santa Barbara |
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| N34 43.4600 / W120 34.3600 |
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http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/
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