Point Arguello is a headland

Headland

A headland is a point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water.Headland can also refer to:*Headlands and bays*headLand, an Australian television series...

 used as a launch site by the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. Point Arguello was first used in 1959 for the launch of military and sounding rocket

Rocket

A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...

s. It was transferred to the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 in 1964, at which time it became part of Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base

Vandenberg Air Force Base is a United States Air Force Base, located approximately northwest of Lompoc, California. It is under the jurisdiction of the 30th Space Wing, Air Force Space Command ....

.

There were 6 launchpads at Point Arguello. It was located south of Vandenberg Air Force Base, and was named by George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

 for José Darío Argüello

José Darío Argüello

José Darío Argüello was a Spanish soldier and California pioneer, and twice governor of California.-Biography:José Darío Argüello was born in Santiago de Querétaro, New Spain ....

, a Spanish

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 frontier soldier who was Commandant of the Presidio of Santa Barbara

Presidio of Santa Barbara

The El Presidio Real de Santa Bárbara, also known as the Royal Presidio of Santa Barbara, was a military installation in Santa Barbara, California. It was built by Spain in 1782, with the mission of defending the Second Military District in California...

 and acting governor of Alta California

Alta California

Alta California was a province and territory in the Viceroyalty of New Spain and later a territory and department in independent Mexico. The territory was created in 1769 out of the northern part of the former province of Las Californias, and consisted of the modern American states of California,...

.

Launch pads

Rockets listed in italics were launched from the complex after its transfer to Vandenberg AFB in 1964.

Original Designation	Later Designation (VAFB, from 1966)	Rockets	Remarks
LC-1-1 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 Space Launch Complex 3 is a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base that has been used by Atlas and Thor rockets. It was built in the early 1960s and consists of two pads, SLC-3E and SLC-3W . The East-West coastline at Vandenberg allows SLC-3 to launch over-ocean polar trajectories that avoid...	SLC-3W Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 Space Launch Complex 3 is a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base that has been used by Atlas and Thor rockets. It was built in the early 1960s and consists of two pads, SLC-3E and SLC-3W . The East-West coastline at Vandenberg allows SLC-3 to launch over-ocean polar trajectories that avoid...	Atlas-Agena Atlas-Agena The Atlas-Agena was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used for 119 orbital launches between 1960 and 1978.... Thor-Agena Thor-Agena Thor-Agena was a series of orbital launch vehicles. The rockets used Thor first stages and Agena second stages. They are thus cousins of the more famous Thor-Deltas, which founded the Delta rocket family. The first attempted launch of a Thor-Agena was in January 1959... Thorad-Agena Thorad-Agena The Thorad-Agena was an American expendable launch system, derived from the Thor and Delta rockets. The first stage of the rocket was the stretched variant of the Thor which had been developed for the Delta programme. The second stage was the Agena-D, which had already been used in conjunction with... Atlas E/F Atlas E/F The Atlas E/F, also designated SB-1A was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket built using parts of decommissioned SM-65 Atlas missiles...
LC-1-2 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 Space Launch Complex 3 is a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base that has been used by Atlas and Thor rockets. It was built in the early 1960s and consists of two pads, SLC-3E and SLC-3W . The East-West coastline at Vandenberg allows SLC-3 to launch over-ocean polar trajectories that avoid...	SLC-3E Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 Space Launch Complex 3 is a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base that has been used by Atlas and Thor rockets. It was built in the early 1960s and consists of two pads, SLC-3E and SLC-3W . The East-West coastline at Vandenberg allows SLC-3 to launch over-ocean polar trajectories that avoid...	Atlas-Agena Atlas-Agena The Atlas-Agena was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used for 119 orbital launches between 1960 and 1978.... Atlas E/F Atlas E/F The Atlas E/F, also designated SB-1A was an American expendable launch system and sounding rocket built using parts of decommissioned SM-65 Atlas missiles... Atlas H Atlas H The Atlas H was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used to launch five clusters of NOSS satellites for the US National Reconnaissance Office... Atlas IIAS Atlas V Atlas V Atlas V is an active expendable launch system in the Atlas rocket family. Atlas V was formerly operated by Lockheed Martin, and is now operated by the Lockheed Martin-Boeing joint venture United Launch Alliance...
LC-2-3 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4 Space Launch Complex 4 , was a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, used by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It consisted of two separate launch pads, SLC-4W and SLC-4E, which were formerly designated PALC2-3 and PALC2-4 respectively. Both pads were originally built for use by...	SLC-4W Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4 Space Launch Complex 4 , was a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, used by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It consisted of two separate launch pads, SLC-4W and SLC-4E, which were formerly designated PALC2-3 and PALC2-4 respectively. Both pads were originally built for use by...	Atlas-Agena Atlas-Agena The Atlas-Agena was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used for 119 orbital launches between 1960 and 1978.... Titan IIIB Titan 23G Titan 23G The Titan 23G, Titan IIG, Titan 2G or Titan II SLV was an American expendable launch system derived from the LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile. Retired Titan II missiles were converted by Martin Marietta, into which the Glenn L. Martin Company, which built the original Titan II,...
LC-2-4 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4 Space Launch Complex 4 , was a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, used by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It consisted of two separate launch pads, SLC-4W and SLC-4E, which were formerly designated PALC2-3 and PALC2-4 respectively. Both pads were originally built for use by...	SLC-4E Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4 Space Launch Complex 4 , was a launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, used by Atlas and Titan rockets between 1963 and 2005. It consisted of two separate launch pads, SLC-4W and SLC-4E, which were formerly designated PALC2-3 and PALC2-4 respectively. Both pads were originally built for use by...	Atlas-Agena Atlas-Agena The Atlas-Agena was an American expendable launch system derived from the SM-65 Atlas missile. It was a member of the Atlas family of rockets, and was used for 119 orbital launches between 1960 and 1978.... Titan IIID Titan IIID The Titan IIID or Titan 3D was an American expendable launch system, launched twenty two times with KH-9 and KH-11 satellites between 1971 and 1982... Titan 34D Titan 34D The Titan 34D was an American rocket, used to launch a number of satellites for mostly military applications. After its retirement from military service, a small number were converted to the Commercial Titan III configuration, which included a stretched second stage, and a larger fairing... Titan IV Titan IV The Titan IV family of space boosters were used by the U.S. Air Force. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. At the time of its introduction, the Titan IV was the "largest unmanned space booster used by the Air Force."The... Falcon 9 Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a rocket-powered spaceflight launch system designed and manufactured by SpaceX. Both stages of its two-stage-to-orbit vehicle use liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene propellants...
LC-A Point Arguello Launch Complex A Launch Complex A or LC-A at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station in California, United States, subsequently Point Arguello Launch Complex A or PALC-A at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, is a launch complex which was used for a number of sounding rocket launches between 1959 and 1966...	N/A	Sounding rocket Sounding rocket A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into... s
LC-B Point Arguello Launch Complex B Launch Complex B or LC-B at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station in California, United States was a launch complex which was used for twenty three sounding rocket launches between 1960 and 1963...	N/A	Sounding rocket Sounding rocket A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into... s
LC-C Vandenberg AFB Probe Launch Complex C Probe Launch Complex C or PLC-C at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States, is a launch complex which was used for six sounding rocket launches between 1971 and 1975. It was originally built as Launch Complex C or LC-C at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station, however no launches...	PLC-C Vandenberg AFB Probe Launch Complex C Probe Launch Complex C or PLC-C at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States, is a launch complex which was used for six sounding rocket launches between 1971 and 1975. It was originally built as Launch Complex C or LC-C at the Point Arguello Naval Air Station, however no launches...	Sounding rocket Sounding rocket A sounding rocket, sometimes called a research rocket, is an instrument-carrying rocket designed to take measurements and perform scientific experiments during its sub-orbital flight. The origin of the term comes from nautical vocabulary, where to sound is to throw a weighted line from a ship into... s
LC-D Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 5 Space Launch Complex 5 was a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. It was previously part of the Point Arguello Naval Air Station, during which time it was designated Launch Complex D or LC-D. Constructed in 1961, it was used by 69 Scout rockets between 1962 and 1994...	SLC-5 Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 5 Space Launch Complex 5 was a launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. It was previously part of the Point Arguello Naval Air Station, during which time it was designated Launch Complex D or LC-D. Constructed in 1961, it was used by 69 Scout rockets between 1962 and 1994...	Scout

External links

• Encyclopedia Astronautica