Point Mugu, California
Point Mugu is a town in Ventura County, California, near Port Hueneme. Chiefly the home of the Naval Air Station and test range facility known by various names over the years, including Pacific Missile Test Center. At Point Mugu there is a rocket launching site of the US navy at 34°07 ' northern latitude and 119°07 ' of western length. Since 1958 from Point Mugu numerous prototypes of military rockets and sounding rockets were launched. The naval air base has dominated the area since the 1940s, and is one of the few places in the area that is not agricultural. The base has been home to many ordinance testing programs, and the test range extends down to the Navy-owned San Nicolas Island in the Channel Islands. Until the late 1990s, the base hosted Antarctic Development Squadron SIX (VXE-6), the squadron of LC-130s equipped to land on ice in Antarctica, to supply the science stations there. Now, the New York Air National Guard's 109th Airlift Wing has assumed that responsibility. Outside of the naval base, there is also Point Mugu State Park, which is an excellent site for viewing birds, marine mammals, and wildflowers and provides about 15,000 acres (61 km²) of protected land including beaches, riparian areas, and coastal hills and canyons. Between the park and the naval base, Mugu Lagoon provides one of the largest coastal wetlands in Southern California that has not been largely developed. Surfing in the area is reported to be good. Point Mugu is well known for being the site where Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed, killing all 88 passengers and crew aboard.
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