jackh@zehntel.UUCP (jack hagerty) (09/25/84)
For those of you who don't belong to NSI (National Space Institute)
the current (September) issue of "Space World" contains a four page
article on the Vandenberg Facility, its current state of development,
tentative completion date, first operation date (i.e. first launch), etc.
The article essentially confirms and expands on what has already been
posted on the net, plus it has a lot of pictures (surprising, considering
the classified nature of most of the operations there).
The article also has a sidebar on "official" viewing positions.
The launch site is indeed SLC-6 (Space Launch Complex 6, pronounced
"slick six") which was the old MOL progam launch pad.
As contractor to the Air Force in the late '70s I got a tour of Vandenberg
to see our vehicle on the pad (we launched from SLC-4E for those of you
who know). Our tour guide was able, on my request, to take us up to, but
not through, the gate of SLC-6. The service structure had just been rolled
back (for the first time since the '60s) exposing the concrete launch
tower in preparation for demolition.
It was saddening to think that all of those thousands of yards of concrete,
so carefully formed and looking brand new (having been protected by the
service structure), had to come down without ever having had the chance to
do their job!
-- Jack Hagerty, Zehntel Inc.
...!ihnp4!zehntel!jackh