Missile Launch at Vandenberg AFB Lights Southland Skies

A spectacular light show occurred over the Southland on Tuesday evening when the Air Force launched a Peacekeeper intercontinental ballistic missile during a test exercise, sending it over the Pacific Ocean.

The missile was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 8:18 p.m. and splashed down at its target in the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Pacific Ocean 4,800 miles away, said Air Force Master Sgt. Kirby Lindner.

Lindner said that what is referred to as the “twilight phenomenon” was visible after the launching to residents of Orange County. He referred to squiggly lines and a corkscrew effect created by unburned missile propellant particles and water left in the wake of booster rockets, which freeze in the less dense upper atmosphere.

The frozen fragments reflect high-altitude sunlight, typically producing a rose-colored luminescence. While this burning effect may take a corkscrew shape, it can be a different shape for different geographic areas.

“You folks are seeing it as a squiggly line down there in Orange County, but it’s not what we’re seeing here at Vandenberg,” Lindner said.

Many people around the county noticed the zigzag, translucent pattern left by the missile.

It “almost has an eerie glow to it,” said Leonard Warmack, the owner and operator of Wimpi’s, a hamburger stand along Pacific Coast Highway in Huntington Beach.

Lindner said the Air Force base received inquiries from news media in San Diego, Bakersfield, Los Angeles and Phoenix.

The four-stage, solid-fuel Peacekeeper weighs 195,000 pounds and has a 5,000-mile range.

It was the 12th test launch of a Peacekeeper. The launch was conducted by the Air Force’s Space Command.