# California's space launch complex



## CHamilton (Jun 12, 2015)

The Space Shuttle’s Military Launch Complex In California That Never Was




> Everybody identifies Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center as the epicenters of America’s now defunct Space Shuttle Program. What most people don’t know is that the Shuttle almost had a second home at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the south central coast of California.



Between Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo on the Coast Starlight and a couple of Surfliners.


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## xyzzy (Jun 12, 2015)

It's a very well written article. The only thing I'd add is the controversy during the Shuttle's design phase about its payload capacity. USAF was pushing for a high-capacity vehicle in terms of payload size and payload mass. NASA favored a lower capacity vehicle that would be less expensive to construct and to operate. What eventually emerged was a compromise Shuttle that was sub-optimal in both respects.

It reminds me of the F-111 compromise when McNamara wanted one aircraft to meet both USAF and carrier-borne USN requirements. That didn't turn out well, either... except that DOD is trying to do the same thing with the F-35.


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## jis (Jun 12, 2015)

And from the looks of it, it probably won't turn out well either, and will waste an incredible amount of money in the process. But such foolishness is almost endemic in military contracting these days I suppose.


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## rickycourtney (Jun 12, 2015)

What the article alludes to but doesn't say is that NASA and the USAF were just months away from having a shuttle launch from "slick six" at Vandenberg. The first launch was planned for October 15, 1986, but the fleet was grounded after the Challenger Disaster on January 28, 1986.

Also the facility was not going to be exclusively for military missions, NASA did plan to do some scientific missions in a polar orbit.

I love seeing those old photographs of when the Enterprise visited Vandy. This page has some of my favorite photos: http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d352/rollover/

It's interesting to see the shuttle being driven down a road on the base and how they had to regrade the hillsides to accommodate the wings.

I actually thought of those pictures when I watched them steer the Endeavour down the streets of Los Angeles.


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## Chucktin (Jun 12, 2015)

We "heard" here at Kennedy in Fl. that that Pad was much to dangerous because there wasn't the same distance between the Control building (and presumably personnel) and the physical Pad. Certainly the pictures I've seen suggest that. Of course VAFB is an Air Farce facility and the rules are different there.


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