An unarmed missile capable of sending a nuclear bomb across the world was launched today from California amid rising tensions between the US and North Korea. <br/><br/>The Air Force Global Strike Command said the unarmed Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile blasted off from a silo at 12:02 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base and delivered a single re-entry vehicle to a target approximately 4,200 miles away at Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.<br/><br/>The test, which took 10 months to plan, was the latest designed to check the readiness and accuracy of a weapon system that forms part of the US nuclear force. The US has about 450 such missiles, each capable of traveling about 8,000 miles.'<br/><br/>It is the second such launch in seven days from the Central California coastal base.