A reconfigured Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg AFB at 8:39 p.m. 23 June 1997. The missile, part of the Multi-Service Launch System developed by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics, deployed a payload of nine target objects in space to test sensors carried aloft by a second Minuteman II that was launched from the Kwajalein Missile Range in the south Pacific Ocean approximately 20 minutes later. It carried sensors using existing National Missile Defense technology to identify and track the nine target objects released by the Vandenberg missile. A side effect from the launch resulted in what is termed as a "twilight phenomenon," a multicolored light...

The original finding aid described this photograph as:

[Complete] Scene Caption: A reconfigured Minuteman II intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from Vandenberg AFB at 8:39 p.m. 23 June 1997. The missile, part of the Multi-Service Launch System developed by Lockheed-Martin Astronautics, deployed a payload of nine target objects in space to test sensors carried aloft by a second Minuteman II that was launched from the Kwajalein Missile Range in the south Pacific Ocean approximately 20 minutes later. It carried sensors using existing National Missile Defense technology to identify and track the nine target objects released by the Vandenberg missile. A side effect from the launch resulted in what is termed as a "twilight phenomenon," a multicolored light show in the upper atmosphere created when unburned missile propellant particles and water left in the wake of the missile freeze in the dense upper atmosphere. These frozen fragments reflect the high altitude sunlight, typically producing a green, blue, white and rose-colored luminescence.

Base: Vandenberg Air Force Base

State: California (CA)

Country: United States Of America (USA)

Scene Camera Operator: TSGT Bruce M. Dzitko, USAF

Release Status: Released to Public
Combined Military Service Digital Photographic Files