Washington DC – October 7, 1997 – Lockheed Martin and U.S. Air Force officials have completed some two and a half years of construction and modifications to the west coast Atlas rocket launch pad, Space Launch Complex 3E, and are now ready to resume Atlas launches from the western space center at Vandenberg Air Force Base California, Lockheed officials told SpaceCast last week.
The 141st Atlas Centaur space launcher, designated AC-141, was stacked on
the pad during the week of Sept. 29th and is now complete. The satellite
payload for the booster will be NASA’s AM-1 space platform, part of the
agency’s long-awaited Mission To Planet Earth project which will get
underway in 1998.
The Atlas selected for the mission is the Atlas IIAS, the most powerful
medium lift vehicle in the U.S. inventory. The IIAS uses strap-on solid
rocket motors during ascent. Modifications to accommodate the motor exhaust
were among the changes needed to SLC-3E. The original pad design supported
Atlas ICBM and, later, Atlas E and F variants in military launches from
Vandenberg, beginning in 1959. The last Atlas E was launched from SLC-3E in
March 1995, carrying a military weather satellite.
The AC-141 Mission To Planet Earth launch is planned for the spring of
1998. Both rocket and pad will undergo checkout and testing during the
period from now until then.
