ths@lanl-a.UUCP (09/10/84)
Had the privilege of viewing the launch of a NAVSTAR GPS last saturday from Vandenberg. The Atlas used was 23 years old. This was my first launch and I was very suprised by the brighness of the exhaust. Also toured the Shuttle facility. It is easy for the public to get within 3 miles of the major launch complexes simply by driving west out of Lompoc on 234 to the beach. I didn't explore the beach route to the shuttle area but as Norm Babcock said, it is certainly within several hundred yards of the beach itself which is public access....except perhaps during the launch. (Are you the the same Norm Babcock that worked for DPI?) Flew to Vandenberg on Friday via C-182, noted as we passed directly over Palmdale Plant 42 (on V-12), the new B-1B, several SR-71's that appeared to be in mothballs, and some U-2's.