An interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base leaves a familiar trail of evidence in the sky west of Goleta just after 3:30 p.m. Friday. The missile successfully hit a target long-range missile that had been launched a half-hour earlier from Kodiak, Alaska. The exercise was part of ballistic-missile defense testing of a U.S. ground-based system the Pentagon wants to deploy in the Czech Republic and Poland.

An interceptor missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base leaves a familiar trail of evidence in the sky west of Goleta just after 3:30 p.m. Friday. The missile successfully hit a target long-range missile that had been launched a half-hour earlier from Kodiak, Alaska. The exercise was part of ballistic-missile defense testing of a U.S. ground-based system the Pentagon wants to deploy in the Czech Republic and Poland. (Michelle J. Wong / Noozhawk photo)