wrote in message oups.com...

The weather at Vandenberg is often too cold to launch the
shuttle which may be a major reason why the facility there
was mothballed when the drometer problem was fully
appreciated. That, and there were problems with the
launch pad foundation.


What is too cold? Vandenburg doesn't get too cold...

The primary reason that I heard was that the shuttle could not lift a large enough payload into the polar orbit that was
the priamry mission for launches from Vandenburg...

The whole facility build was a boon to the central coast economy for many years tho', and is used for delta launches
today...