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One, 'LAUNCH AND LANDING SITE CONSIDERATIONS CONSTRAIN SHUTTLE PERFORMANCE.' Two, CRITICAL HIGH-INCLINATION MISSIONS CAN BE SAFELY LAUNCHED ONLY FROM VAFB - 40% OF PROJECTED DOD MISSIONS WILL LAUNCH FROM VAFB.' (11)ĭuring 1978, the GAO, NASA, and DOD were engaged in a dispute, aired in congressional testimony, about whether or not payloads as large as the KH-12 could be launched out of Kennedy. The chart 'Why Shuttle At Vandenberg', presented to Congress a year after the KH-12 program was initiated, provided two answers to its own question. These are the primary reasons why the DOD was so intent upon building SLC-6. And the potential complications of polar flights from VAFB are small compared to those that would have been faced at Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

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The shuttle-configured KH-12 needed to fly out of Vandenberg in order to reach a proper polar orbit allowing full coverage of strategic Soviet installations. (9) For example, Air Force Colonel Earl Severo, while admitting that the Air Force built SLC-6 to put 32,000-pound payloads into polar orbit, would not comment on what cargo would weigh that

The press described SLC-6 as 'designed to place clandestine military satellites in orbit.' (8) Secrecy covered SLC-6's operational support for the KH-12. After Defense Department officials testified that polar orbits could not be achieved by launching from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the Congress initiated construction of.' (7)Īlthough the site decisions were made jointly by NASA and the DOD, the latter was given operational control of the SLC-6 facility. (6) As a Senate report summarized: 'The Air Force originally justified the expenditure of such funding on the basis of a need to launch high-priority military payloads into polar orbits. The SLC-6 option at VAFB was approved in 1975, and construction began four years later - as the KH-12 program was getting underway. In 1972, Vandenberg CA and Cape Kennedy FL were chosen as sites for shuttle launches. However, it was subsquently suggested that the decision to build on MOL facilities 'may turn out to be penny wise and pound foolish.' (5) Allowing the Shuttle main engines to use the old MOL ducts contributed to the hydrogen entrapment problem that haunted the program. The preexisting service tower underwent major changes, such as replacing a 50 ton crane with a 200 ton crane and shortening the tower by 40 feet. The service tower transport rails were extended 150 feet further from the launch mount, which required extensive excavation of the surrounding hillside. The access tower was constructed of materials from the MOL Umbilical Tower. (4) Modification of existing MOL facilities nonetheless was extensive. The SLC-6 saga illuminates the KH-12's impact on the space program not only regarding the decision to build the nearly three billion dollar launch site, but also because of shuttle design changes made to accommodate the satellite.Īfter Vandenberg was chosen as an STS launch site, the Air Force argued that conversion of SLC-6's partially complete Titan 3 facilities - the remains of the canceled Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program - would save over $100 million by precluding `bare ground' construction of Shuttle facilities. The expensive and problem-ridden SLC-6 complex itself came under increasing fire as critics urged rapid development of new expendable launch vehicles capable of boosting heavy payloads into polar orbit. These problems delayed the initial operation of SLC-6 as well as the KH-12's debut, which, prior to the cancellation of West coast shuttle operations, was scheduled for the second Vandenberg shuttle flight. However, the SLC-6 (pronounced slick six) facility was plagued by problems, including faulty construction, unanticipated operational hazards such as the weather, and the need for augmentation shuttle in order to boost the heavy KH-12. The satellite needed a polar orbit for coverage, and VAFB 'could provide near polar and retrograde azimuth launches which could not be achieved efficiently or safely from Kennedy.' (3) The importance of accommodating the new generation reconnaissance satellite was DOD's underlying rationale for a West coast launch site. The Advanced KEYHOLE was a driving force behind the decision to build the the Space Launch Complex 6 (SLC-6) at Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB). 'We have spent nearly $3 billion on a facility that will not work and may not even be needed.' Senator Jim Sasser (2) Introduction: 'The usual pattern at the base is to pretend that everything's just fine until press reports appear showing that the facts are otherwise.' - An 'observer' quoted in Military Space.

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