Vandenberg Space Launch Complex 8


Space Launch Complex 8, is a launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, United States. It is currently only used by Minotaur rockets. It was originally part of the California Spaceport and was known as the Commercial Launch Facility or Space Launch Facility. In addition to supporting occasional Minotaur rockets, SLC-8 is capable of hosting small launch vehicles thanks to a new clean pad built in 2019. Much like the Minotaur rocket family itself, SLC-8 has seen little use since the early 2010s.
As of April 2025, ten rockets - six Minotaur I and four Minotaur IV - have been launched from SLC-8.

Pad description

SLC-8 was built in the late 1990s to support Minotaur rockets from Vandenberg, and is the southernmost launch complex at the base. It is the fourth launch site at Vandenberg to support the Minotaur family, after TP-01, Vandenberg [Launch Complex 576E|SLC-576E], and LF-06. Minotaur launches from SLC-8 are controlled from the Integrated Processing Facility at the neighboring Space Launch Complex 6, which itself was originally built for Space Shuttle payload processing. Other launches from the complex can be controlled from a new launch control center at north Vandenberg.
Minotaur rockets are assembled and prepared for flight inside an 88-foot-tall mobile assembly gantry built around 2005. The Minotaur launch mount is rated for launch vehicles up to 150 tons in mass and one million pounds of thrust.
The clean pad, measuring 15 by 15 feet of reinforced concrete, is available for small launch vehicles of up to 20 tons in mass and was built in 2019. Two adjacent pads were also built to host fuel and oxidizer equipment. Companies using the pad must bring their own ground support equipment.

Launch history

List of launches

All flights from 2000 to 2011 operated by Orbital Sciences Corporation. All flights since 2025 operated by Northrop Grumman.
No.DateTime Launch vehiclePayloadResultRemarks
127 January 200003:03Minotaur IJAWSatMaiden flight of the Minotaur I.
219 July 200020:09Minotaur IMightySat II.1
311 April 200513:35Minotaur IXSS-11Proximity test operations satellite, also known as USA-165. Satellite bus design was later used for GRAIL.
422 September 200519:24Minotaur IStreak
515 April 200601:40Minotaur ICOSMIC (FORMOSAT-3)
622 April 201023:00Minotaur IVHTV-2aSuborbital launch. Part of the Falcon Project by DARPA and the Air Force, aiming to develop a hypersonic weapon. Maiden flight of the Minotaur IV. Payload later failed during test.
726 September 201004:41Minotaur IVSSBSMaiden orbital flight of the Minotaur IV.
86 February 201112:26Minotaur INROL-66NRO launch. Rapid Pathfinder Prototype satellite for technology demonstration, also known as USA-225. First launch for the National Reconnaissance Office from SLC-8.
911 August 201114:45Minotaur IVHTV-2bSuborbital launch. Part of the Falcon Project by DARPA and the Air Force, aiming to develop a hypersonic weapon. Payload later failed during test.
1016 April 202519:33Minotaur IVNROL-174NRO launch. Two unknown satellites, also known as USA-521 and USA-522. First launch from SLC-8 following Orbital's merger with Alliant Techsystems and following Orbital ATK's purchase by Northrop Grumman.