Minuteman III launch scheduled Published Feb. 7, 2007 By 030207 VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile is scheduled to launch from North Vandenberg Wednesday morning as an operational test to demonstrate the weapon system's reliability and accuracy. The six-hour launch window is from 12:01 to 6:01 a.m. PDT. The missile will launch under the direction of the 576th Flight Test Squadron here. Col. Jack Weinstein, 30th Space Wing commander, is the spacelift commander. Lt. Col. S. L. Davis, 576th FLTS commander, is the mission director for this launch. Members of the 576th FLTS here installed tracking, telemetry and command destruct systems on the missile to collect data and meet safety requirements. The missile's single unarmed re-entry vehicle is expected to travel approximately 4,200 miles, hitting a pre-determined water target in the Marshall Islands. The entire ICBM community, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy will use the data collected from this mission.