VANDENBERG AFB - In the first of two launches from here within seven days, a Minuteman 3 missile rose into the early morning sky Wednesday on a routine data-gathering mission.

The missile blasted off at 2:06 a.m., climbing into Central Coast skies from an underground silo on north Vandenberg Air Force Base.

A base spokeswoman called the test a success. Military officials tracked the weapon's three dummy warheads as they traveled toward targets 4,200 miles southwest of the base on the Kwajalein Missile Range in the central Pacific Ocean.

The launch involved a combined task force from the 341st Space Wing, Malmstrom AFB, Mont., the 576th Flight Test Squadron and the 30th Space Wing.

Capt. Ed Mendones, 576th Flight Test Squadron, served as launch director while Lt. Col. Anthony Blaylock, the 576th's commander, was mission director for this launch.

Vandenberg routinely conducts missile tests to gather data on the weapon's accuracy and reliability.

The base's next launch occurs Tuesday evening, when a Pegasus rocket will ferry a Canadian scientific satellite to space.

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The air-launched rocket will take off from the airfield at Vandenberg about 6 p.m., and drop the rocket over the Pacific Ocean, where the booster's first stage will fire at approximately 7:10 p.m.

* Staff writer Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or by e-mail at janscully@pulitzer.net.

Aug. 7, 2003