# Western Range (USSF)

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American launch vehicle range

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Emblem of the Western Test Range

The **Western Range** (**WR**)[1] is the [space launch range](/source/Space_launch_range) that supports the [major launch head](/source/Rocket_launch_site) at [Vandenberg Space Force Base](/source/Vandenberg_Space_Force_Base).[2]: pg 15 Managed by the [Space Launch Delta 30](/source/Space_Launch_Delta_30),[3]: pg 25 the WR extends from the West Coast of the United States to 90° east longitude in the [Indian Ocean](/source/Indian_Ocean)[3]: pg 27 where it meets the [Eastern Range](/source/Eastern_Range)[4]: pg 10 Operations involve military, government, and commercial interests. The WR has been operated by civilian contractors since its establishment, following the precedent of the Eastern Range. On 1 October 2003, InDyne Inc. took over the range contract from [ITT Industries](/source/ITT_Industries) which had operated the range for the previous 44 years.[5]

## History

### Navy's Pacific Missile Range (PMR)

The Navy established the Naval Missile Facility at Point Arguello (NMFPA) after the transfer from the Army of 19,800 acres from the southern portion of Camp Cooke in May 1958. Camp Cooke was a World War II training and POW facility and a maximum security Disciplinary Barracks site.[6] Cooke Air Force Base, later [Vandenberg Space Force Base](/source/Vandenberg_Space_Force_Base), was established on 64,000 acres of the northern portion.[6] The Secretary of Defense directed the Navy to establish the Pacific Missile Range (PMR) with headquarters at [Point Mugu](/source/Point_Mugu) and instrumentation sites along the California coast and downrange in the Pacific Ocean.[6] Agreements between the Navy and the Air Force specified that nearly all launches from [Vandenberg Space Force Base](/source/Vandenberg_Space_Force_Base) were under the command and control of Navy and the PMR.[6]

A Pacific [Missile Impact Location System](/source/Missile_Impact_Location_System) (MILS) was installed to support both [Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile](/source/Intermediate_Range_Ballistic_Missile) (IRBM) and [Intercontinental Ballistic Missile](/source/Intercontinental_Ballistic_Missile) (ICBM) tests. IRBM impacts were northeast of Hawaii and covered by a system terminating at the [Marine Corps Air Station Kaneohe Bay](/source/Marine_Corps_Air_Station_Kaneohe_Bay) operational November 1958. The ICBM impacts required MILS monitoring between [Midway Island](/source/Midway_Island) and [Wake Island](/source/Wake_Island) and between Wake Island and [Eniwetok](/source/Eniwetok). Two target arrays and a Broad Ocean Area (BOA) array system were installed. The ICBM range was operational in May 1959 with two target arrays. MILS shore facilities were at Kaneohe and each of the islands.[7][8]

### Air Force — Western Test Range

Secretary of Defense [Robert S. McNamara](/source/Robert_S._McNamara) directed a restructure of the missile ranges on 16 November 1963 with an effective date of 1 July 1964. This restructure shifted responsibility of major sections of the Navy's Pacific Missile Range to the United States Air Force.[6] In a final transfer, on 1 February 1965, the Air Force, with headquarters at Vandenberg Air Force Base, took control of [Pillar Point](/source/Pillar_Point_Air_Force_Station), [California](/source/California), two sites in [Hawaii](/source/Hawaii), [Canton Island](/source/Canton_Island), [Midway Island](/source/Midway_Island), and [Wake Island](/source/Wake_Island) in the mid-Pacific as well as [Eniwetok](/source/Eniwetok) and [Bikini Atoll](/source/Bikini_Atoll) in the [Marshall Islands](/source/Marshall_Islands).[6] The Air Force also took control of the six range instrumented ships *Huntsville*, *Longview*, *Range Tracker*, *Richfield*, *Sunnyvale*, and *Watertown*.[6] The Navy retained a missile test facility at [Point Mugu](/source/Naval_Air_Station_Point_Mugu).[6] In 1979, the name was shortened to simply the Western Test Range.[6]

## Notable launches

- 28 February 1959 - [Discoverer 1](/source/Discoverer_1) - first spacecraft placed in a [polar orbit](/source/Polar_orbit).[6][9]

- 29 September 2013 – [Falcon 9 Flight 6](/source/Falcon_9_Flight_6), the first launch of the [Falcon 9](/source/Falcon_9) v1.1 launch vehicle from a [privately developed](/source/Private_spaceflight) leased launchpad at [Vandenberg Air Force Base](/source/Vandenberg_Space_Force_Base) was used in an unusual post-mission launch vehicle test.[10] The [first-stage booster](/source/First_stage_(rocketry)) of the [SpaceX](/source/SpaceX) [Falcon 9](/source/Falcon_9) launch vehicle will conduct a [propulsive-return over-water test](/source/Flight_test). After the second stage with the [CASSIOPE](/source/CASSIOPE) payload [separates](/source/Separation_event) from the booster, the booster will do a retro burn to reduce velocity from approximately Mach 10 (12,300 km/h; 7,610 mph) to a [controllable](/source/Spacecraft_attitude_control) descent velocity, and then a second burn just before it reaches the water to simulate a [vertical landing](/source/VTVL) of the first stage.[11] This will be the first high-altitude, high-velocity test of the [SpaceX reusable launch system development program](/source/SpaceX_reusable_launch_system_development_program).

## See also

- [Eastern Range](/source/Eastern_Range)

- [Missile Range Instrumentation Ship](/source/Missile_Range_Instrumentation_Ship)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTEFederation_of_American_Scientists_1-0)** [Federation of American Scientists](#CITEREFFederation_of_American_Scientists).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-127-1_ch1_2-0)** ["Chapter 1: Eastern and Western Range Safety Policies and Processes 31 December 1999 Change to 1997 EWR"](http://snebulos.mit.edu/projects/reference/NASA-Generic/EWR/99ewr-c1.pdf) (PDF). Retrieved 31 August 2008.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-2000assess_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-2000assess_3-1) Center for Aerospace Technology (CAST) (February 2000). ["30th SPACE WING / VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE LAUNCH SITE SAFETY ASSESSMENT"](http://www.fas.org/spp/military/facility/00feb_vafb_1.pdf) (PDF). *Research Triangle Institute Center for Aerospace Technology (CAST)*. Federal Aviation Administration Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. Retrieved 31 August 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-89asses_4-0)** Loyd C. Parker; Jerry D. Watson; James F. Stephenson (July 1989). ["BASELINE ASSESSMENT WESTERN SPACE AND MISSILE CENTER"](https://web.archive.org/web/20160809030717/http://fas.org/spp/military/facility/western.pdf) (PDF). RESEARCH TRIANGLE INSTITUTE CENTER FOR SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FLORIDA OFFICE for U.S. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF COMMERCIAL SPACE TRANSPORTATION. Archived from [the original](http://fas.org/spp/military/facility/western.pdf) (PDF) on 9 August 2016.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Janene Scully (14 July 2003). ["New leader of Western Range signed at VAFB"](http://www.indyneinc.com/homepage/Portals/0/news_articles/SantaMariaTimes2.pdf) (PDF). *Santa Maria Times*. Pulitzer Central Coast Newspapers. Retrieved 2 June 2008.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-7) [***i***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-8) [***j***](#cite_ref-FOOTNOTE30th_Space_Wing_History_Office_6-9) [30th Space Wing History Office](#CITEREF30th_Space_Wing_History_Office).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Subcommittee on Military Construction (March-April) (29 April 1959). [*Military Construction Appropriations for 1960: Hearings*](https://books.google.com/books?id=e-JLAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA169). pp. 169–170. Retrieved 16 September 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Subcommittee on Military Construction (May) (20 May 1959). [*Military Construction Appropriations for 1960: Hearings*](https://books.google.com/books?id=HBVEAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA818). pp. 818, 824. Retrieved 16 September 2020.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["NASA - NSSDC - Spacecraft - Details NSSDC ID: 1959-002A"](https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-002A). Retrieved 31 August 2008.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-nsj20130327_10-0)** Foust, Jeff (27 March 2013). ["After Dragon, SpaceX's focus returns to Falcon"](http://www.newspacejournal.com/2013/03/27/after-dragon-spacexs-focus-returns-to-falcon/). *NewSpace Journal*. Retrieved 5 April 2013.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-nsw20130328_11-0)** Lindsey, Clark (28 March 2013). ["SpaceX moving quickly towards fly-back first stage"](https://web.archive.org/web/20130416030256/http://www.newspacewatch.com/articles/spacex-moving-quickly-towards-fly-back-first-stage.html). *NewSpace Watch*. Archived from [the original](http://www.newspacewatch.com/articles/spacex-moving-quickly-towards-fly-back-first-stage.html) on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 29 March 2013.

## Bibliography

- ["Western Range (U)"](http://www.fas.org/spp/military/program/nssrm/initiatives/westrang.htm). Federation of American Scientists. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

- Gruss, Mike (6 April 2015). ["Raytheon Team Wins US$2 Billion Air Force Range Support Contract"](http://spacenews.com/42473raytheon-team-wins-2-billion-air-force-range-support-contract/). SpaceNews. Retrieved 8 April 2015.

- 30th Space Wing History Office. ["U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet"](https://www.vandenberg.spaceforce.mil/?fsID=4606). 30th Space Wing Public Affairs. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150110132051/https://www.vandenberg.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet_print.asp?fsID=4606) from the original on 10 January 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_numeric_names:_authors_list))

- [Western Test Range Handbook](http://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a205116.pdf), Defense Technical Information Center, July 1981

v t e United States Proving Grounds Army: Aberdeen Proving Ground Dugway Proving Ground Fort Belvoir Kwajalein Missile Range Yuma Proving Ground White Sands Missile Range Jefferson Proving Ground (inactive) Sandy Hook Proving Ground (inactive) Scituate Proving Ground (inactive) Navy: Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division Pacific Missile Range Facility Pacific Missile Test Center Abbotts Lagoon Bombing Range Number 2 (inactive) Big Lagoon Bombing Target Number 12 (inactive) Indian Head Proving Ground (inactive) Vieques Naval Training Range (inactive) Space Force: Eastern Range Western Range Department of Energy: Pacific Proving Grounds (inactive)

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