CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- A small suite of Air Force experiments rode into orbit Wednesday atop an Orbital Sciences Minotaur rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
Liftoff from the Pacific Coast site was right on time at 4:09 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (2009 GMT) and the MightySat 2 payload was on track to be deployed on target 11 minutes later, according to reports from the launch control center.
"All indications from the vehicle were very good today," according to the launch conductor.
Officially known as the Orbital Suborbital Program Space Launch Vehicle, the Minotaur rocket is a four-stage booster made up of retired Minuteman 2 nuclear missile components combined with parts of Orbital Sciences' commercial Pegasus booster.
The hyrbid rocket has flown twice before but Wednesday's mission marked only the second time the booster has been used to carry cargo into Earth orbit. Its inaugural mission was flown in January, followed by a suborbital flight in May.
advertisement
