A long-awaited Delta 4 rocket blasted into summer skies Tuesday night over south Vandenberg Air Force Base, blazing a trail for future missions from a launch pad with a long history of frustration.

The rocket blasted off at 8:33 p.m. from the newly refurbished Space Launch Complex-6, once home to the West Coast space shuttle program - which was canceled before the first launch.

The Boeing rocket, approximately 20 stories tall, blasted into twilight sky as dozens of onlookers watched from vantage points on and around Vandenberg Air Force Base. The flight was clearly visible at Gaviota and other points on the Central Coast.

The dusky skies allowed spectators to see the rocket's pair of powerful solid rocket motors fall away as Delta climbed.

“What a show, huh?” said John K. Mitchell, spokesman for engine maker Pratt and Whitney. “Wow. The word I have to give you is wow. We're delighted. That was pretty spectacular stuff.”

The rocket carried a top-secret spacecraft for the National Reconnaissance Office, the spy-satellite agency made up of CIA and military members that once kept its very existence hush-hush.

“It was fantastic,” said NRO spokesman Rick Oborn, who declined to give any details about the satellite type or cost.

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Since the payload is classified, officials also remained mum about the spacecraft's health beyond confirming it had separated from the rocket.

“I'm just extremely proud and elated for the team to accomplish something of such significance and historic achievement,” said Maj. Brian Smith, 30th Launch Group. “It was just beautiful. That's the perfect ending.”

Less than two hours after liftoff, a Boeing spokeswoman said the team was thrilled.

“I think elated would be an understatement,” said Boeing spokeswoman Paula Shawa. “I'm doing cartwheels mentally. It's been a good night for the launch business.”

Delta 4's engine is powered by super cold liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which manufacturer Pratt and Whitney's spokesman touts as the largest of its kind in the world.

Boeing developed Delta 4 as its entrant in the military's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, aimed at cutting costs and simplifying the process of getting satellites into space. This was the sixth successful Delta 4 mission, Boeing said.

Lockheed Martin's version is the Atlas 5 rocket, which will make its West Coast debut in early 2007, flying from the modified Space Launch Complex-3 East on South Base.

The two families of rockets use common parts that allow customers to order up a ride on a variety of rockets, depending on the size of the satellite to be launched.

Both new rockets have already debuted on the East Coast, where satellites launch into equatorial orbit. Vandenberg provides a place to safely launch satellites into polar orbits.

“Assured access to space is vital to our country. Bringing EELV to the West Coast is a next step,” said Maj. David Goldstein, 4th Space Launch Squadron commander.

“I see it's a major step for our country ... because we have to have that access from both coasts because of the types of orbits that are used,” he added. “Over the next couple years we're going to have a few Atlas launches and a few more Delta launches, and they're all vital to our national security. In my mind, it's a huge step forward to be able to get EELV launched off of the West Coast.”

The spy satellites are important tools for getting vital information to military personnel on the battlefield, he added.

The next Delta 4 mission from Vandenberg is set for liftoff before the end of this year, with a military weather satellite aboard.

Meanwhile, Tuesday's launch was historic not only for the first West Coast launch of a Delta 4 but also for the launch from SLC-6, a pad that's known as much for what didn't launch as what did.

The Air Force built the site in the mid-1960s for the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program, essentially a military space station, but that program was canceled without a launch after years of anticipation, and SLC-6 went from a bustling work site to a ghost town overnight.

The pad then became the site for the West Coast shuttle program, with a dedication ceremony Oct. 15, 1985. However, that program came crashing down along with the shuttle Challenger, which exploded on Jan. 28, 1986, in Florida.

SLC-6 remained an empty shell, until the late 1990s, when entrepreneurs saw visions of commercial satellites by the hundreds needing rides to orbit to support a new generation of space-based communication satellites. However, unsuccessful launches and changing economic conditions brought that program down as well.

Only a handful of small commercial rockets previously flew from Space Launch Complex-6 - going where no spacecraft had gone before despite four decades, three programs and billions of dollars.

Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or janscully@lompoc records.com

June 28, 2006