The State - News from Oct. 16, 1985

The Air Force declared the new West Coast space shuttle launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base operational and President Reagan called it “another significant step” in the nation’s space program. The first launch from the $2.8-billion complex will be the Discovery, scheduled to take off March 20. Air Force Undersecretary Edward Aldridge, who is to fly aboard that shuttle, read a letter from Reagan noting that shuttles that take off from Vandenberg will be able to fly into north-south orbits over Earth’s poles, something people have yet to do. Shuttles launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla., are restricted for safety reasons to west-east orbits. “The capabilities from Vandenberg . . . will allow the shuttle to fly over every part of the world and will add a significant dimension to man’s exploration of the heavens,” Reagan said in the letter. “Today, the country takes another significant step in the shuttle program.”