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Posts Tagged ‘Vandenberg’

Per a related post, the full SpaceX lawsuit is attached. It’s mostly exhibits, so don’t be intimidated by the length.

This excerpt summarizes the case nicely:

“Rarely has a government agency made so clear that it was exceeding its authorized mandate to punish a company for the political views and statements of its largest shareholder and CEO. Second, the Commission is trying to unlawfully regulate space launch programs—which are critical to national security and other national policy objectives—at Vandenberg Space Force Base (the Base), a federal enclave and the world’s second busiest spaceport.”

Even Gov. Newsome sides with SpaceX saying “I’m with Elon.”

Will this case teach the Commission some humility? Probably not, but we shall see.

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Last week’s successful Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg Space Force Base (formerly Air Force Base) brought back memories of a less successful Vandenberg launch on April 18, 1986. I was just offshore from the base on Texaco’s Platform Harvest at the time. That is where the photo below was taken.

The Titan rocket carrying a secret spy satellite exploded in a huge orange cloud seconds after the launch. Because this was a classified mission, few residents knew that a launch was occurring. Fifty-eight people were treated for skin and eye irritation. Not a shining moment for the space program, particularly given the Titan failure the previous August and the tragic Challenger disaster earlier in 1986.

Photo taken from Texaco’s Platform Harvest
New York Times archive

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