Space Launch Complex 10, or Missile Launch Complex 10 is located on Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. It was built in 1958 to test ballistic missiles and developed into a space launching facility in 1963. Prior to 1966 Space Launch Complex 10 West was known as Vandenberg AFB Pad 75-2-6. It remains a rare pristine look at the electronics and facilities created in that era which helped the United States grow their space capabilities.
The last launch from this complex was a Thor booster in 1980
It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1986.
It is undergoing an eight-year restoration and public visits are possible, if arranged in advance.
Famous quotes containing the words space, launch and/or complex:
“Sir Walter Raleigh might well be studied, if only for the excellence of his style, for he is remarkable in the midst of so many masters. There is a natural emphasis in his style, like a man’s tread, and a breathing space between the sentences, which the best of modern writing does not furnish. His chapters are like English parks, or say rather like a Western forest, where the larger growth keeps down the underwood, and one may ride on horseback through the openings.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Now launch the small ship, now as the body dies
and life departs, launch out, the fragile soul
in the fragile ship of courage, the ark of faith
with its store of food and little cooking pans
and change of clothes,”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“What we do is as American as lynch mobs. America has always been a complex place.”
—Jerry Garcia (1942–1995)