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NROL-129

Minotaur IV

Northrop Grumman Space Systems

Launch Status
Success

Rocket Launch Videos

Weather Forecast During Launch

According to weather officials, there's a 95% chance of favorable weather conditions at the time of the launch.

Mission

NROL-129

  • Type: Government/Top Secret
  • Orbit: Low Earth Orbit

Classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office.

Location

Launch Area 0 B

Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Launch Area 0 B has witnessed the launch of 8 rockets, including 8 orbital launch attempts. While Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA, has been the site for 80 rocket launches.

Wallops Flight Facility is a rocket launch site on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, United States, just east of the Delmarva Peninsula and north-northeast of Norfolk. The facility is operated by the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and primarily serves to support science and exploration missions for NASA and other federal agencies. WFF includes an extensively instrumented range to support launches of more than a dozen types of sounding rockets; small expendable suborbital and orbital rockets; high-altitude balloon flights carrying scientific instruments for atmospheric and astronomical research; and, using its Research Airport, flight tests of aeronautical research aircraft, including uncrewed aerial vehicles.

Rocket

Orbital ATK Minotaur IV

The Minotaur IV launch system is derived from the Peacekeeper ICBM. The first three stages are taken directly from decommissioned Peacekeeper missiles. A fourth stage, the Orion-38, is taken from the Pegasus family of air-launched rockets.

Learn more about the Minotaur IV

Agency

Northrop Grumman Space Systems

Northrup Grumman Space Systems designs, builds and delivers space, defence and aviation-related systems to customers around the world. They aquired Orbital ATK in 2018 along with its launchers and ongoing missions.

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