Vandenberg Launch Complex 576

The USAF and Missile Defense Agency anticipate a minimum of three KEI launches per year from 2009 to at least 2012.

[6] The first pad in the complex, 576A-2, hosted the inaugural Atlas launch from the West Coast when Missile 12D flew a successful 1,800 kilometres (1,100 mi) arc across the Pacific Ocean on 9 September 1959.

It did not enter regular use as a launching facility until 1962 when it hosted Atlas D reentry vehicle and Nike-Zeus target tests.

The facility was the source of some trouble in the beginning due to a construction error as one umbilical on the silo was installed incorrectly.

After four failed launches from 576B, it was discovered that the umbilical was releasing prematurely at liftoff when it still had live electrical current in it, which shorted out components in the missiles.

Media related to Vandenberg Space Force Base Launch Complex 576 at Wikimedia Commons

Taurus rocket on LC-576E
Atlas ICBM sequence images of missile erection, fueling, and launch at Vandenberg AFB, California.
At complex 576E, a crane lifts Stage 0 of the Taurus XL launch vehicle for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory from its transporter.