Rockets and Missiles of Vandenberg AFB: 1957-2017

On December 16, 1958, a Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile became the first rocket launch from Vandenberg AFB, California. Established from the remnants of a WWII and Korean War training base named Camp Cooke, the USAF selected the location to operationally test intercontinental-range ballistic missiles over the Pacific Ocean. Over the decades, Vandenberg has seen over 1,900 launches of more than 70 varieties of rockets and missiles. This book chronicles the launches by rocket/missile, launchpad location, and payload. Many never-before-seen photographs illustrate the variety of space launch vehicles used to lift national-security satellites into orbit, as well as the operational testing of the missiles used by United States nuclear-alert forces. The launches at Vandenberg helped drive the technological innovation and deterrence that helped the US win the Cold War.

• The Soviet Space Program: The Lunar Mission Years: 1959-1976 (The Soviets in Space Series)
• Shattered Dreams: The Lost and Canceled Space Missions (Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight)
• Burning the Sky: Operation Argus and the Untold Story of the Cold War Nuclear Tests in Outer Space
• A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA'S NUCLEAR ARMS: VOLUME I - INTRODUCTION AND WEAPON SYSTEMS THROUGH 1960
• A TECHNICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA'S NUCLEAR WEAPONS: VOLUME II - WEAPON SYSTEMS FROM 1960 TO THE PRESENT
• Picturing Apollo 11: Rare Views and Undiscovered Moments
• NASA Moon Missions Operations Manual: 1969 - 1972 (Apollo 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17) - An insight into the engineering, technology and operation of NASA's advanced lunar flights (Haynes Manuals)
• The Bomb and America's Missile Age (The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science)
• Apollo 11 (2019)
• The Space-Age Presidency of John F. Kennedy: A Rare Photographic History