Test of missile defense booster successful

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) A rocket designed to hurl a killing device against nuclear missiles was successfully launched on a test flight Thursday, authorities said.

The unarmed booster, dubbed ``Taurus Lite,'' soared into the sky from this Central California coastal base at 1 p.m. It rose to about 1,125 miles and landed about 3,500 miles away in the Pacific Ocean, said Barron Beneski, spokesman for rocket designer Orbital Sciences Corp.

``It looked like a real good mission, from preliminary data,'' he said.

The prototype, developed in just 13 months, is part of the country's Ground-based Midcourse Defense system, formerly known as the National Missile Defense program.

It is supposed to hurl a 55-inch-long, 120-pound interceptor into space to collide with and destroy ballistic missiles heading toward the United States.

In December, an interceptor failed to strike and destroy a ballistic missile fired from Vandenberg during an $80 million test.

The launch Thursday was the first demonstration test of the three-stage rocket, which was based on Orbital's commercial Taurus, Pegasus and Minotaur rockets.

The Virginia-based company is working on the defense program under a $450 million contract with Boeing, Beneski said.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)