Associate Editor

Citing security concerns, the Air Force has yanked its unclassified launch schedule from a Web site, a move that baffles secrecy opponents and some space hobbyists alike.

The Web site, operated by the Western Range, suddenly disappeared earlier this year. Instead of upcoming missions with rocket pictures and a paragraph of information, the site says simply, "This page is temporarily unavailable."

"Although the launches aren't classified, we still must weigh operational security concerns when determining what and how much information to make available and when to make it available," Capt. Todd Fleming, Vandenberg Air Force Base's public affairs chief, said in response to written questions. "We are currently evaluating the security risks with providing such easy and early public access to launch information."

The public launch schedule has been available for more than five years, but has undergone changes in terms of what information is available. At least a handful of non-government Web sites publicize a Vandenberg launch manifest.

"The government's gone back and forth on this one, which tells me they aren't quite sure there is a threat or not," said Steven Aftergood, director of the Project on Government Secrecy with the Washington, D.C.-based Federation of American Scientists.

Vandenberg's unclassified schedule Web site has evolved from giving detailed information such as launch dates and liftoff times to more recently revealing only the month for a mission. Now even that is gone, although NASA provides advanced notice of its launches including from Vandenberg, on the agency's Web site. Rocket manufacturers and other federal agencies also make launch schedules available on-line

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Regular launch followers know that launch dates often move and that any date is likely to change at least once, if not multiple times.

"I think whoever made the decision watches too much '24' on TV and needs to get back to real life," Aftergood said, referring to the prime-time show on counterterrorism that airs on the Fox network.

Fleming said Vandenberg's operational security office made the decision to evaluate the risks associated with releasing the information.

"There is not a specific policy or regulation that led to this change," Fleming said. "We will make the decision after carefully weighing the threats we could face from allowing too much information into the public domain."

He added that a modified schedule might be posted soon.

In the wake of the Sept.11, 2001, attacks, NASA officials suddenly clamped down on space shuttle launch times, but the dates weren't secret.

That's since been revoked, and the date of this spring's high-profile return-to-flight mission from Florida, as well as its launch time, have been widely publicized.

It seems word of the removed launch schedule hasn't filtered to Colorado-based Air Force Space Command. The agency's public Web site links to East and West coast launch schedules. A link takes users to a 90-day schedule for Patrick Air Force Base; the link for Vandenberg goes to the defunct page.

"This is purely subjective decision and it doesn't seem to have basis in any known threat," Aftergood said.

Burbank-based photographer William G. Hartenstein routinely shoots Vandenberg launches, and noted its low-profile status.

"Half the people don't know that we launch rockets and missiles on the West Coast," he said. "I don't understand that."

He said other space enthusiasts like to know about launches to try to catch a glimpse.

"It's basically for planning purposes," he said. "Everyone knows launch dates aren't written in stone."

The base formerly remained mum about some clandestine missions but the military's policy on classified missions eased in the 1993. It came at a time that labeling launches secret bordered on the absurd.

From grocery stores to gas stations in Lompoc and Santa Maria, people with connections to Vandenberg openly chatted about upcoming launches.

James Spellman Jr. from the National Space Society's Western Spaceport Chapter also recalls when Vandenberg workers would talk to loved ones in code to tell them to look for the launch, communicating when would be a good time to "hang out the laundry."

"It got to be a bit of a joke," he said.

Even during the Cold War, secret launches weren't that secret. An international treaty required the United States to notify the Soviet Union of a rocket launch, to avoid it being mistaken as a nuclear attack.

Other signs of not-so-secret-launches included closing beaches, putting up roads blocks, displacing Jalama Beach campers, and relocating some residents south of Vandenberg.

"That's a bummer they're losing the launch manifest," said Scott Hollister, a space enthusiast and self-proclaimed "Space Cowboy" who works as operation director at the nonprofit Endeavour Center. "It seems like the walls are going back up again."

Space hobbyists wonder what the removal accomplishes.

"I'm a little puzzled because there really isn't anything of analytical value on that site," said Ted Molczan, among a loose-knit network of international hobbyists who actively observe satellites to analyze their orbits and share sightings over the Internet.

"It's interesting to know what launches are coming but there isn't anything useful in determining orbital mechanics."

The federal government recently implemented restrictions on orbiting-satellites tracking data.

Even though he's a space activist, Spellman said he understands the need for security for military missions.

"There is an obvious need (for security)," said Spellman, who also works as a public affairs civil servant at Travis Air Force Base's hospital. "These are national assets that need to be protected, but at the same time Vandenberg is a unique situation with dual use of commercial launches ramping up more. There's going to have to be bit of reevaluation."

Times are different now than they were in 2001.

"There's been a lot of re-evaluation going on at bases," he said.

Spellman added that the information is "going to get out there one way or another" and that it's important to educate the public as to the value of various launches.

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