Click on the pic to make it bigger.
It's a test of reentry vehicles of the LGM-118 Peacekeeper ICBM at Kwajalein atoll. I just got back after a long weekend on the beach and no internet for 3 days. I am itchin' to update the blog, so I'll do something big tomorrow.
Interesting "shot". I saw it on a wall years ago --- it was an official Air Force photo --- and I could never get a printed copy.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great reminder of how death would had looked, since each of those RV would have been carrying many megatons of destruction.
It's either comforting or worrying to know that all the Peacekeepers are out of service and their silos placed in caretaker status.
In my years with Air Force Space Command I visited most of the launch sites but I several times (to my regret) passed up opportunities to visit Roi-Namur island, the piece of Kwajalein that is growing the trees you see in the foreground.
My dad fought at Roi-Namur in WWII, two pieces of coral with the longest dimension about 4,000 feet. Little did he know what purpose it would serve in the future.
The missile that launched the RV's came from Vandenberg AFB in California, Kwaj is at the far western end of what the Air Force calls the "Western Test Range"
Trixie just mentioned your blog today, look interesting, I'll be back.