October 30, 2025
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Minotaur

Mission Reports

Minotaur 4 launch timeline with the ORS-5 satellite

August 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

Track the major events during the Minotaur 4 rocket’s 28-minute climb into a unique equatorial orbit with the ORS-5 space surveillance satellite for the U.S. military’s Operationally Responsive Space office.

Mission Reports

Live coverage: Minotaur 4 rocket makes first launch from Cape Canaveral

August 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

An Orbital ATK Minotaur 4 rocket partially powered by modified motors from a Cold War-era nuclear missile lifted off early Saturday from Cape Canaveral with a small U.S. military satellite to help track other objects in space. The solid-fueled launcher took off at 2:04 a.m. EDT (0604 GMT) after a weather delay.

Mission Reports

Military satellite ready for launch aboard converted Cold War-era missile

August 25, 2017 Stephen Clark

A U.S. military satellite awaiting launch Friday night from Cape Canaveral is small enough to fit on a coffee table, but it will punch above its weight, scanning a region more than 20,000 miles above Earth to catalog spacecraft movements and space junk.

Mission Reports

Assembly complete for Minotaur launcher at Cape Canaveral

August 19, 2017 Stephen Clark

Using industrial cranes at a no-frills launch pad on the eastern tip of Cape Canaveral, a team of Orbital ATK and U.S. Air Force technicians have fully stacked a modified Cold War-era missile set for launch next week with a $49 million satellite built to track other objects in orbit.

Mission Reports

Build-up begins for first Minotaur rocket launch from Cape Canaveral

August 4, 2017 Stephen Clark

Ground crews at a long-dormant launch pad at Cape Canaveral are stacking surplus military missile motors for the Aug. 25 launch of a Minotaur 4 rocket with a satellite designed to track orbital traffic thousands of miles above Earth.

Mission Reports

Launch of military’s new space-based satellite tracker delayed to August

June 21, 2017 Stephen Clark

The launch from Cape Canaveral of a small U.S. military satellite built to track objects in geosynchronous orbit has been delayed from mid-July until August, an Air Force spokesperson said.

News

Minotaur rocket launch for NRO expected at Wallops by end of 2018

January 12, 2017 Stephen Clark

A classified National Reconnaissance Office satellite mission assigned last month to launch on an Orbital ATK Minotaur 1 rocket will take off from Wallops Island in Virginia by the end of 2018, a U.S. Air Force spokesperson confirmed Wednesday.

News

Minotaur rocket selected to launch military satellite in 2017

July 9, 2015 Stephen Clark

Cape Canaveral will get its first Minotaur rocket launch in 2017, when the solid-fueled booster will send up a U.S. Air Force space surveillance satellite under a contract with Orbital ATK.

Posts pagination

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News Headlines

  • Former NASA Administrators urge space agency to rethink plans for Artemis Moon lander
    October 30, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 29 Starlink satellites on Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral
    October 28, 2025
  • Blue Origin details lunar exploration progress amid Artemis 3 contract shakeup
    October 28, 2025
  • Astrobotic delays Griffin-1 Moon mission to NET July 2026
    October 28, 2025
  • SpaceX breaks its California pad turnaround record with sunset Starlink launch
    October 26, 2025
  • SpaceX marks 5th anniversary of first Starlink customer with Sunday satellite launch
    October 25, 2025
  • SpaceX surpasses 2024 orbital launch record with Saturday Starlink mission
    October 24, 2025
  • Airbus, Leonardo and Thales agree to form new European company
    October 24, 2025
  • SpaceX expends Falcon 9 booster to launch Spainsat NG 2 communications satellite
    October 23, 2025
  • SpaceX launches 28 Starlink satellites on 550th Falcon 9 mission
    October 22, 2025
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