June 23, 1997 

Release Number 97-0606 

MSLS LAUNCH SUCCESSFUL 

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - A reconfigured Minuteman II
intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from here at 8:39 p.m. PDT today. 

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 missile. 

The second missile, also a reconfigured Minuteman II, was launched from the
Kwajalein Missile Range in the south Pacific Ocean approximately 20 minutes after
the launch here. 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 multi-colored 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. 

Both launches were successful.