Vandenberg Launch Records (1958–2000) – PURSUE Files

An Air Force study of unusual rocket-booster failures and a history of Vandenberg AFB launches, released in PURSUE Release 01 as reference material

⚠ Note on validity: These are not UAP reports. They are reference records about rocket launches, which are one of the most common causes of dramatic “UFO” sightings in the western United States.

Vandenberg launch records
Agency	Department of the Air Force
Documents	1996 risk-modeling report; 2000 launch summary
Location	Vandenberg Air Force Base (now Space Force Base), California
Released	Release 01 (May 8, 2026)
Files	2 (PDF)
Previously public?	Partly — Vandenberg launch histories have been published before; these copies appear newly released
Official releaseReference

Two Department of the Air Force records were included in PURSUE Release 01 without any UAP sighting attached: a September 1996 report on modeling unlikely space-booster failures in launch-risk calculations, and a February 2000 summary of every launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base between 1958 and 2000.^[1]

The records

DOW-UAP-D048, Department of the Air Force Report, 1996

Open DOW-UAP-D048 (PDF) on war.gov →

This report describes the Modeling of Unlikely Space-Booster Failures in Risk Calculations, documenting historical launch failure modes and recommending corrective actions to address them using novel modelling techniques.
— Official PURSUE description

DOW-UAP-D049, Launch Summary, Vandenberg AFB, 2000

Open DOW-UAP-D049 (PDF) on war.gov →

This report summarizes the historical record of launches occurring at Vandenberg Air Force Base between 1958 and 2000.
— Official PURSUE description

Analysis

Why they matter for UAP research. Missile and rocket launches from Vandenberg, on the California coast, regularly cause waves of UFO reports across the West, especially at twilight when the exhaust plume is lit by the sun against a dark sky (for example, the December 2017 SpaceX Falcon 9 launch seen across several states). A complete launch history lets analysts check whether a historical western sighting lines up with a launch, and booster-failure records help explain unusual debris or breakups. PURSUE does not say which cases these records were used for.

New or previously released? Vandenberg launch histories have been published in Air Force and Space Force history offices’ work; these specific documents appear newly released.

Released files

PURSUE ID	Title	Type
DOW-UAP-D048	Department of the Air Force Report, 1996	PDF
DOW-UAP-D049	Launch Summary, Vandenberg AFB, 2000	PDF

References

^ U.S. Department of War (2026). PURSUE Release 01 (May 8, 2026): DOW-UAP-D048, DOW-UAP-D049, with official descriptions. war.gov/ufo.

Source: U.S. Department of War, PURSUE (Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters), war.gov/ufo. Official records are U.S. government works in the public domain; summaries and analysis on this page are by UFO UAP Wiki.