Editing Vandenberg Space Force Base (section)

====== SM-65 Atlas ======
[[File:Atlas missiles on alert at Vandenberg Air Force Base - 1960.jpg|thumb|Atlas missiles on alert, 1960]]
On 16 October 1958, the first Atlas ICBM launcher (576A-1) constructed at Vandenberg AFB, California, was accepted from the contractor by the 1st Missile Division. The first intercontinental ballistic missile, the [[SM-65D Atlas]] [[ICBM]], was delivered and was accepted by SAC's [[576th Strategic Missile Squadron]] on 18 February 1959. The first [[SM-65 Atlas|Atlas-D]] flew on 9 September 1959, and following the successful launch, General Thomas S. Power, CINCSAC, declared the Atlas ICBM to be operational. The following month, equipped with a nuclear warhead, the Atlas at Vandenberg became the first ICBM to be placed on alert in the United States. It was an SM-69D Atlas ICBM (AFSN 58-2190) on launcher 576A-1. In April 1960, the first attempted launch of a Series D Atlas ICBM from a coffin-type launcher (576B-2) was successful. This launcher was the prototype of the ones to be used at the first operational Atlas squadron, the 564th Strategic Missile Squadron, [[Francis E. Warren Air Force Base]], [[Wyoming]]. Following this successful launch, Major General David Wade, Commander of the [[1st Missile Division]], declared the coffin-type launcher to be operational.<ref name="Chronology"/>

In July 1959, construction began on the first Series E Atlas ICBM coffin-type launcher (Atlas operational system test facility #1). On 28 February 1962, the first successful launch of the [[SM-65E Atlas]] took place. Construction began on the first [[SM-65F Atlas]] ICBM "silo-lift" launcher (Atlas operational system test facility #2) in November 1962. The first Atlas F arrived in June 1961 and the first operationally configured Series F Atlas was successfully launched on 1 August 1962.<ref name="Chronology" />

During its testing phase, Vandenberg would operate two Atlas-D launch complexes; two Atlas-E, and three Atlas-F silos.<ref name="Atlas ICBM Sites">{{cite web |url=http://www.techbastard.com/missile/atlas/silo/index.php|title=Atlas Missile Silo Coordinates|publisher=Techbastard.com|access-date=31 March 2013}}</ref> The Atlas-Ds were taken off alert at the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron (Complex 576B) in May 1964 as part of the phaseout of the Atlas from active ICBM service. The last Atlas F test launch was on 18 January 1965, and the 576th Strategic Missile Squadron was inactivated on 2 April 1966. The 576th SMS carried out 53 Atlas-D, 7 Atlas-E and 7 Atlas-F test launches between 1959 and 1965.<ref name="Chronology" />

The Atlas would remain in use as a launch vehicle for satellites from Vandenberg as a space booster configured with an [[RM-81 Agena]] upper-stage rocket and the [[Atlas-Agena]] would launch many different types of satellites into orbit until its phaseout in the late 1980s.<ref name="vafbhistory" />