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US military tests unarmed nuclear missile on election night (video)

The US military test-fired another unarmed, nuclear-capable missile yesterday evening (November 6).

The launch took place on November 5 at 23:01 local time (2:01 EDT or 06:01 GMT on November 6) from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. A team of U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy personnel oversaw the launch, which sent an unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) from Vandenberg to the U.S. military’s Ronald Reagan Ballistic Missile Defense Test Site in the Marshall Islands, southeast of Japan .

Like all ICBMs, the rocket flew into space before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. It is unknown how high the Minuteman III flew in this particular test because the U.S. military rarely releases such data. However, according to a U.S. Air Force data sheet, the Minuteman III has a maximum altitude of 700 miles (1,120 kilometers), which puts it well into low Earth orbit. For comparison, SpaceX’s Starlink satellites have an orbit of about 342 miles (550 km).

An unarmed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile launches during an operational test at 11:01 p.m. Pacific Time on Nov. 5, 2024, at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. (Image credit: US Space Force photo by Airman 1st Class Olga Houtsma)

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