Missile lights up western sky, police switchboards

Friday, Sept. 20, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile on an experimental flight lit up the Las Vegas Valley's western sky Thursday night.

Concerned Las Vegas residents lit up the Metro Police switchboard with calls of a strange light in the sky as a white cone-shaped cloud formed over the Spring Mountains.

The contrail zig-zagged over the horizon and mixed with the fading light to create an eerie glow.

The spectacle was seen throughout California and even as far as Phoenix.

The three-stage, solid-fuel missile is part of the Air Force's Force Development Evaluation Program.

The Air Force termed the missile mission a success.

The missile blasted out of an underground silo at Vandenberg Air Force Base north of Santa Barbara, Calif., about 7:30 p.m., an Air Force statement said.

The Minuteman's two unarmed re-entry vehicles flew about 4,200 miles in 30 minutes, hitting pre-determined targets at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western chain of the Marshall Islands, an Air Force statement said.

The mission was directed by the 576th Flight Test Squadron at Vandenberg and the 341st Space Wing from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana.

The Force Development Evaluation Program is designed to test missile launching systems, making missiles more accurate and reliable.

Two Minuteman III missiles were launched successfully earlier this year from Vandenberg, one on June 7 and the other on July 17 during similar missions.