Vandenberg Space Force Base
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 📍 Place
Contents 5
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| Type | Place |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Vandenberg Air Force Base, Vandenberg AFB, Vandenberg |
| On the Timeline | 6 events, 1956–2001 |
Vandenberg Space Force Base is a U.S. military space and missile launch site on the coast of Santa Barbara County, California. It is linked to the "Big Sur UFO" film of 1964, one of the best-known military UFO claims.[1][2]
History
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The U.S. Army opened Camp Cooke on the site in October 1941. The land was transferred to the Air Force in June 1957, and on 4 October 1958 the base was named after General Hoyt Vandenberg, the second Chief of Staff of the Air Force — the general who in 1948 rejected Project Sign's conclusion that UFOs were interplanetary. On 14 May 2021 it became Vandenberg Space Force Base.[1][3]
Launches
The first missile launch, a Thor, took place on 15 December 1958, and on 28 February 1959 Discoverer 1, the first satellite intended for polar orbit, was launched from the base. Atlas, Titan, Minuteman and Peacekeeper missiles were tested there over the following decades. SpaceX began launching Falcon 9 rockets from Vandenberg in 2013.[1]
The Big Sur film
From August to November 1964 an Air Force team filmed Atlas missile tests from a mountaintop near Big Sur. Lieutenant Robert Jacobs, the site's commander, claimed from 1982 that the film showed a disc-shaped object following a missile and disabling it with a beam. Kingston George, the project's engineer, wrote in Skeptical Inquirer in 1993 that the film showed decoy warheads and chaff being released in a classified test, which Jacobs had misinterpreted.[2][4]
On the UAP Timeline
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- Ruppelt's account of the Estimate of the Situation (February 1956) — Edward Ruppelt writes he once saw a top-secret 'Estimate of the Situation' on UAP.
- Big Sur UFO film (September 1964) — An officer says he studied film of a UAP downing a test warhead over the Pacific; the CIA took it.
- Richard Haines's conviction about a secret project (1982) (6 April 1982) — NASA scientist Richard Haines tells Vallée he is sure a secret government UAP project exists.
- John Mills and the Vandenberg warhead films (1984/1985) — An Air Force technician says he saw film of UAP interacting with test warheads.
- Steve Wilson and Project Pounce (19 August 1997) — A retired Air Force colonel claims a secret space program shoots down unfriendly UAP.
- Don Phillips testimony (April 2001) — Former contractor Don Phillips claims Lockheed studies extraterrestrial technology.
References
- Vandenberg Space Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Big Sur UFO — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Project Sign — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Kingston A. George, "The Big Sur 'UFO': An Identified Flying Object", Skeptical Inquirer (Winter 1993) · cdn.centerforinquiry.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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