Vandenberg Launch Registry, 1958-2000

Brief

This document is the 30th Space Wing's complete launch log for Vandenberg Air Force Base, covering 42 years of operations from the first Thor demonstration on 16 December 1958 through early 2000. It tabulates every launch by sequence number, date, nickname, facility, vehicle, program type, and cumulative count by booster and issuing command, reaching approximately 1,790 total launches. Agencies represented include AFSC, SAC, Navy, NASA, RAF, AEC, and commercial operators such as Orbital Sciences and Boeing. The document contains no UAP-related content and appears to have been released as supporting operational baseline context within the broader May 2026 Department of War disclosure.

Metadata

Agency

Department of War

Release

5/8/26

Incident

2/3/00

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

113 pages

Classification

UNCLASSIFIED

Programs

Minuteman, Peacekeeper, Titan, Atlas, SAFEGUARD, Pegasus, Delta II, Athena, DMSP, GLCM, ERCS, ABRES

Tags

launch-registry, Vandenberg-AFB, 1958-2000, ICBM, space-launch, no-UAP-content, operational-baseline

Key points

• First Vandenberg launch: 16 December 1958, call sign TUNE UP, Thor vehicle, AFSC, at facility 75-1-1 — the opening entry of the 42-year chronology.p.15
• Total launches reached approximately 1,790 through February 2000, as reflected in the grand-total column of the booster summary chart.p.14
• Annual Launch Summary by Command shows AFSC as the dominant operator: 677 launches through 1978 alone, with SAC second.p.10
• The Royal Air Force conducted 21 launches from Vandenberg, primarily Thor Integrated Weapons System Training (IWST) and Combat Training Launch (CTL) missions, concentrated in the 1959-1964 window.p.10
• The Atomic Energy Commission ran its own probe series from PALC-B using small sounding rockets — Nike/Viper I, Nike/Cajun, Deacon/Arrow II, Kiva/Hopi — classified in the log as SPACE PROBE missions.p.16
• Pegasus launched from Vandenberg only beginning with its eighth mission; the first seven live flights originated from Edwards AFB and are excluded from Vandenberg's cumulative totals.p.11
• Minuteman G (Minuteman III) is the highest-volume single missile variant in the booster summary, with a grand total of 226 launches.p.13
• The Launch Facility Guide cross-references every pad by building number, current Space Launch Complex designation, and legacy predecessor names — essential for interpreting nomenclature shifts across the four-decade log.p.9
• Distribution as of 3 February 2000 included defense contractors Boeing, TRW, Aerospace Corporation, ITT Federal Services, and Orbital Sciences alongside Air Force commands and NASA.p.2

Verbatim

• This is the official registry of all major launch operations conducted from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

  p.3

• The vehicles are presented in chronofogical order beginning with the first launch on 16 December 1958.

  p.3

• Launch dates reflect Vandenberg local time.

  p.3

• The 30th Space Wing History Office (30th SW/HO) periodically updates the Vandenberg AFB Launch Summary book.

  p.3

• The Pegasus flight program began with three "captive" flights using inert vehicles. These missions were conducted on 9 Nov 89, 15 Dec 89, and 30 Jan 90.

  p.11

• The Delta II program was operated by McDonnell Douglas Aerospace until the company was purchased by Boeing Aerospace, 4 August 1997.

  p.11

• The Athena rocket was formerly called LMLV (Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle). The name was changed in September 1997.

  p.14

• Nicknamed Minotaur, it was officially called, "Orbital Suborbital Program Space Vehicle."

  p.14

Most interesting

• The Royal Air Force launched 21 missiles from Vandenberg under IWST and CTL programs — a largely unacknowledged allied-nation use of a U.S. launch complex on American soil.
• The Atomic Energy Commission operated its own launch cadence from PALC-B through the early 1960s, using sounding-rocket probes that appear in the log simply as 'SPACE PROBE' with no further detail.
• Operation nicknames in the early chronology — GOLD DUKE, FOGGY BOTTOM, DOUBLE MARTINI, BLAZING CIDERS, CRISP BACON — reflect the informal naming culture of the early space race, where missions were assigned evocative but meaningless call signs.
• The document carries the DOW-UAP-D49 designation in the May 2026 disclosure yet contains zero anomalous aerial phenomena content; its most plausible purpose within that release is to provide a complete baseline of known launches against which unexplained tracks near Vandenberg can be cross-referenced.
• The Pegasus accounting discrepancy — first seven live flights excluded from Vandenberg totals — means the base's official launch count understates the actual number of orbital missions staged through its airspace.
• The glossary condenses SAFEGUARD, one of the Cold War's most politically contested ABM programs, to a single line: 'An Antiballistic Missile (ABM) test program.'
• By 1999-2000 the manifest includes Boeing (Delta II), Orbital Sciences (Pegasus XL, Taurus), and Lockheed Martin (Athena) alongside legacy AFSC and AFSPC entries — marking the full transition to a commercially shared launch range.