The State - News from Sept. 15, 1989

The flight test of a Peacemaker intercontinental ballistic missile--formerly known as the MX--ended in failure at Vandenberg Air Force Base at Lompoc, when a range safety officer destroyed the missile three minutes into an $80-million flight, the Air Force said. It was the first operational test of the weapon since the Peacemaker was added to the nation’s arsenal. An unspecified “anomaly” was blamed for the decision to blow up the missile as it began a 4,000-mile flight to Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific. One Air Force official said the missile may have been veering off course.