| Launch vehicle: | Minotaur-1 |
| Launch vehicle ID: | |
| Payload: | NFIRE |
| Launch date: | 24 Apr 2007 |
| Launch site: | WI, LA-0B |
- The Minotaur's first minutes of flight were powered by two left-over
motor stages from decommissioned Minuteman 2 intercontinental ballistic
missiles. They propelled the rocket on the way to space before two
additional solid-propellant stages from Orbital's commercial air-launched
Pegasus rocket program each fired to achieve the desired orbit of 135 by
245 nautical miles with an inclination of 48.2 degrees to the
equator.
- The 1,089-pound spacecraft was deployed from the rocket about 9 minutes
after liftoff, becoming the 25th satellite deployed by Minotaur.
- It marked the 13th Minotaur program flight since 2000, including seven
missions using the Minotaur 1 satellite-launching version and six
suborbital Minotaur 2 missile test boosters flown for the military.
Ref: #12, #78a - update: 22.03.09
