LOS ANGELES -- People in Los Angeles, San Diego and the Inland Empire may see a colorful glow in the sky Monday morning owing to the test fire of an intercontinental missile.
The Minuteman 2 was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Monday and carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles to their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, according to Lt. Geoffrey Raymond.
In past years, such rocket tests have been visible over most of Southern California, and occasionally as far east as Tuscon, Arizona.
The rockets can cause a glowing exhaust trail that can get blown into strange shapes by upper-atmosphere winds.
Additionally, unburned fuel dumped into the atmosphere can form a colorful glow in a dark sky as sunlight reaches the upper atmosphere.
These strange occurrences in the sky have prompted thousands of calls to police switchboards in years past.
Today's test aimed the rocket in an arc toward the Central Pacific Ocean island of Kwajalein, 4,200 miles southwest of California. The rocket is intended to deliver three dummy warheads at top-secret targets anchored near the tiny coral atoll.
The launch marked the last time that the U.S. Air Force Space Command will be in charge of such tests. Its function has been absorbed by the newly created Global Strike Command, the Santa Maria newspaper reported.
The Air Force says the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system's reliability and accuracy, and the data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.
A handful of anti-nuclear weapon activists from Northern California planned to stage a picket outside Vandenberg's gates.
The Minuteman 2 was fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 3:01 a.m. Monday and carried three unarmed re-entry vehicles to their targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands, according to Lt. Geoffrey Raymond.
In past years, such rocket tests have been visible over most of Southern California, and occasionally as far east as Tuscon, Arizona.
The rockets can cause a glowing exhaust trail that can get blown into strange shapes by upper-atmosphere winds.
Additionally, unburned fuel dumped into the atmosphere can form a colorful glow in a dark sky as sunlight reaches the upper atmosphere.
These strange occurrences in the sky have prompted thousands of calls to police switchboards in years past.
Today's test aimed the rocket in an arc toward the Central Pacific Ocean island of Kwajalein, 4,200 miles southwest of California. The rocket is intended to deliver three dummy warheads at top-secret targets anchored near the tiny coral atoll.
The launch marked the last time that the U.S. Air Force Space Command will be in charge of such tests. Its function has been absorbed by the newly created Global Strike Command, the Santa Maria newspaper reported.
The Air Force says the launch was an operational test to check the weapon system's reliability and accuracy, and the data will be used by United States Strategic Command planners and Department of Energy laboratories.
A handful of anti-nuclear weapon activists from Northern California planned to stage a picket outside Vandenberg's gates.
