Go For Launch
A Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launches at 1:01 a.m. Aug. 13 from North Vandenberg AFB. The missile was configured with a National Nuclear Security Administration, or NNSA, test assembly in which three unarmed re-entry vehicles traveled approximately 4,220 miles to their pre-determined targets near the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands. The launch was a throw-back to years past in which a maintenance task force from an operational missile wing, in this case the 341st Missile Wing from Malmstrom AFB, Mont., performed jobs unique to test operations while validating the work they perform at the northern tier bases. (U.S. Air Force photo/Joe Davila)