Tag: Minotaur
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Launch Roundup: Alpha postponed, Falcon 9 launches cargo to ISS
This week has seen the worldwide launch cadence slow, with only four launches taking place. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has launched just twice, with a mission for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and a Commercial Resupply Services mission to the International Space Station. Moreover, a Minotaur rocket has launched another classified reconnaissance payload from Vandenberg, and…
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Northrop Grumman launches second classified US government mission in two days with NROL-111
Northrop Grumman launched three national security payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on the NROL-111 mission. The company used their solid propellant Minotaur I rocket to place the payloads into a low Earth orbit with a liftoff from Pad-0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia occurring on Tuesday, June 15 at 13:35 UTC…
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Photos: Minotaur rocket vaults into orbit from Virginia
Riding a half-million pounds of thrust, a Minotaur 4 rocket fired off a launch pad in Virginia, surpassed the speed of sound in less than 20 seconds, and vaulted into orbit Wednesday with four classified payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office. The 78-foot-tall (23.8-meter) Minotaur 4 rocket launched at 9:46 a.m. EDT (1346 GMT) Wednesday…
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Minotaur rocket successfully deploys four NRO satellites in orbit
A Minotaur 4 rocket fires into a mostly sunny sky Wednesday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: Northrop Grumman/Thom Baur A solid-fueled Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket vaulted into orbit Wednesday from Virginia’s Eastern Shore and deployed four top secret spacecraft for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency, extending the program’s…
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Photos: Minotaur 4 rocket ready for launch from Virginia
A 78-foot-tall (23.8-meter) Minotaur 4 rocket is poised for liftoff Wednesday from Virginia’s Eastern Shore carrying four top secret payloads into orbit for the National Reconnaissance Office. The Northrop Grumman-built rocket, using three retired Peacekeeper missile stages and a commercial solid rocket motor upper stage, is standing on pad 0B at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport,…
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Minotaur rocket ready to launch four payloads for U.S. spy satellite agency
Four NRO payloads are enclosed inside the Minotaur 4 rocket’s payload fairing for launch Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia. Credit: NRO/Northrop Grumman Four clandestine payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office are awaiting liftoff Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Minotaur 4 rocket powered by Cold War-era missile stages stored for more than 30 years…
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Live coverage: Minotaur 4 rocket launches from Virginia
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission will launch four payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office. Follow us on Twitter. A live video stream of the Minotaur 4 launch will be available on this page beginning at 8:30…
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Northrop Grumman readies for debut Minotaur IV launch from MARS
For the first time in its 10-year flight history, the Minotaur IV rocket is preparing to make its inaugural launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, MARS, on Wallops Island, Virginia. The classified mission from the National Reconnaissance Office, known as NROL-129, is set to launch sometime within a launch window that opens at 09:00 EDT…
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Top secret NRO payload installed on Minotaur rocket for launch from Virginia
The Minotaur 4’s payload shroud is lifted atop the rocket at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. Credit: NRO Crews working on Virginia’s Eastern Shore this week raised a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office — the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency — atop a solid-fueled Minotaur 4 rocket for liftoff…
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Rockets purchased by Stratolaunch back under Northrop Grumman control
File photo of a Pegasus XL rocket inside the Building 1555 processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Randy Beaudoin Hardware for two air-dropped Pegasus XL launchers previously purchased by Stratolaunch, a space launch company founded by the late billionaire Paul Allen, are now back under Northrop Grumman control and for sale to…