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Operational Silo Test Facility

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326: 290: 302: 314: 278:) hosted seven Atlas F launches between 1962 and 1965. This facility received its own baptism of fire on 4 October 1963 when Missile 45F tipped over at liftoff after one engine failed to start. Damage to the silo was not that serious and it hosted the final Atlas R&D flight two months later. Then on 2 April 1964, a repeat disaster happened when Missile 3F failed in virtually identical fashion to 45F. This time OSTF-2 was not used again for six months, after which it hosted the finale Atlas ICBM test, Missile 106F, on 8 January 1965 and was then decommissioned from service. 374: 362: 350: 24: 871: 338: 540: 259:
Operational tests were designed as practice drills for ballistic missile crews and also engineering tests of the missile and silo equipment—they would travel to Vandenberg Air Force Base and launch a randomly selected missile from the inventory, which was then equipped with telemetry and Range Safety
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tests. On 12 December 1960, a fully fueled Titan was lifted to the surface in preparation for launch when the silo elevator collapsed. The missile fell back down into the silo and exploded, damaging the facility so badly that it was abandoned. The first launch of a silo-based missile would take place
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missiles; coffin types for the former and elevator types for the latter. Atlas testing began rather ignominiously when Missile 27E exploded at liftoff on 7 June 1961, putting
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Atlas 3F at OSTF-2 prior to failed launch attempt in April 1964
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destruct packages. Some launches tested reentry vehicles or
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1,200 feet (370 m) to the northwest inside the
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Index


Vandenberg Space Force Base
34°48′16″N 120°32′46″W / 34.804329°N 120.546165°W / 34.804329; -120.546165
United States Air Force
Titan I
Atlas E
Atlas F
United States Air Force
intercontinental ballistic missile
launch facility
Vandenberg Space Force Base
California
Titan
Atlas
Titan I
Atlas E
F
Nike-Zeus
Titan I missile emerges from the silo in 1960
OSTF-2 Platform Launcher on October 1960
Raising Atlas 3F at OSTF-2 on September 1961
Atlas 64E launch from OSTF-1 on December 1962
Atlas 3F at OSTF-2 prior to failed launch attempt in April 1964
Operational Silo Test Facility in 2014
Operational Silo Test Facility in 2014
Operational Silo Test Facility in 2014
"OPERATIONAL SILO TEST FACILITY (OSTF)"
"SILO LAUNCH TEST FACILITY (SLTF)"

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