Two rocket launches took place this week from Vandenberg Space Force Base, one by SpaceX that delivered another 28 Starlink satellites to its mega-constellation of 8,800 satellites currently in orbit, and another by the U.S. military that tested the “reliability and readiness” of an unarmed nuclear missile.
The Halloween afternoon launch by SpaceX marked the company’s 15th orbital mission for the month of October, divided between its facilities in Florida, Texas, and Vandenberg. Nine minutes after liftoff, the first-stage booster of the Falcon 9 rocket detached from the payload, performed a midair flip, and descended to land on an autonomous drone ship named “Of Course I Still Love You,” a reference to a sentient starship in a science fiction novel.
The launch of a Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile in the early morning hours of November 5 was successful in testing “the continued reliability and accuracy of the ICBM weapon system,” a cornerstone of America’s national defense, said Lt. Col. Karrie Wray. The launch was initiated from aboard a Navy aircraft and monitored by an Air Force base in Wyoming, with the Minuteman III travelling more than 4,200 miles to a test range in the Marshall Islands equipped with sensors that measure the missile’s performance in its last stages of its flight.
The pre-planned mission marked the first weapons test since President Donald Trump demanded last week that the Pentagon “immediately” resume nuclear weapons testing. Vandenberg’s public affairs office insisted Wednesday’s launch was “routine and was scheduled years in advance.” The last Minuteman III test occurred in May, and the Navy tested a submarine-launched ballistic missile in September.
While some Minuteman III warheads are capable of carrying multiple reentry vehicles ― allowing each missile to destroy three separate targets ― those warheads were partially disarmed and reduced to one vehicle as part of the 2014 New START treaty between the U.S. and Russia. The treaty expires in February 2026.
