A payload launch vehicle carrying a prototype exoatmospheric kill vehicle is launched from Meck Island at the Kwajalein Missile Range on Dec. 3, 2001, for a planned intercept of a ballistic missile target over the central Pacific Ocean. The target vehicle, a modified Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missile, will be launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The interceptor is planned to hit the target more than 140 miles above the Earth during the midcourse phase of the warhead's flight.