vandenberg

Which also prompted a closer look at the safety of Vandenberg launches and the canceling of them.

This was supposed to be a reply to the comment below about launches from Vandenberg being mostly to the south.

The train was the only place from which civilians could see the Vandenberg Launch Complex, including the SLC-6 Shuttle launch site[1].

Draw a line south from Vandenberg AFB and you don't hit land until Antarctica.

I was taking the train down the coast of California, around the horn of Vandenberg Airforce Base.

That the photos taken at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 3 December 2010, were taken before the ship was launched into orbit.

There's a Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg scheduled for July 22.

If you are like me and wondering what makes Vandenberg AFB (California) so good then, well it turns out it's great for polar orbits specifically.

They've already launched from California, at Vandenberg AFB.

They will launch from Vandenberg whenever appropriate.

[1] scare quotes because I know its never easy to land and California or Nevada east of Vandenberg for minimal delta-v requirements.

If they launch from their Vandenberg launch complex they can "easily"[1] land in the high deserts of California or Nevada.

"The US Air Force's X-37B appeared at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on 3 December 2010" Picture is from a while ago.

Also related - "Shuttle Down" by Harry Stine: "In the book, the Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on a polar orbit flight from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Southern California.

Air Force officials indeed expected to launch the Shuttle from Vandenberg, and they insisted that the Shuttle had to have enough crossrange to cover that distance and return successfully." It goes into quite a bit of detail on the Air Force's involvement and reasoning.

I did see a launch north over my town, about 80 miles north of Vandenberg.

Vandenberg Air Force Base is, what, 150 miles to the NW?

Yes, there have been some launches from Vandenberg.