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Vandenberg Missile Launching Produces Light Show

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From a Times Staff Writer

Residents throughout the Southland were startled Thursday night by a spectacular light show caused by the launching of an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile from Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The missile blasted off at 7:36 p.m., and the colorful contrail was seen over almost all of the state.

The missile was launched from an underground silo. Its two re-entry vehicles were expected to travel about 4,200 miles in 30 minutes, hitting predetermined targets at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the Pacific Ocean’s Marshall Islands.

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In Los Angeles, the flashy display 150 miles to the north startled the crowd at a Dodgers home game and brought calls to authorities.

“We got a handful of calls about the panorama of colors over Western skies,” said a Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman, Brian Humphrey. “They were mostly from motorists who’d never seen what has become a beautiful Southern California tradition.”

The launching was part of a program to test missile launching systems and make missiles more accurate and reliable.

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