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Air Force Delays Launch of Newest Rocket
By Frank Sietzen, Jr.
Special to space.com
posted: 01:11 pm ET
06 December 1999
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minotaur_launch_991206WASHINGTON Dec. 3 - The Air Force has delayed the launch of its newest space booster, the military announced late Thursday. It has now set January 22 as the new launch date. Launch of a refurbished Minuteman 2 missile, converted into a satellite launcher, planned for 6:20 p.m. PST December 7, was postponed when problems with the rocket were discovered during final checkouts underway Thursday, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Base, California announced. The rocket was to be launched from the military spaceport at Vandenberg Air Base on the California coast. The new rocket, dubbed the Minotaur, is cobbled together from Minuteman 2 missile first and second stages and is topped by third and fourth stages derived from the winged Pegasus commercial space booster. The hybrid booster, part of the Air Force Orbital-Suborbital program, is being used to afford military research satellites a cheap launch into space. By using retired missile parts and other stages, the Air Force hopes to slash millions off the cost of a launch as compared to existing commercial rockets. The new launch vehicle is capable of lifting one and a half times the weight of the existing Pegasus XL, but substantially less than the next size commercial rocket -- the Taurus. A series of small research satellites have been mounted in a multi-payload adapter inside the Minotaur's nose for the flight. The satellites include payloads for Arizona and Stanford Universities, the Air Force Academy and NASA's Marshall Spaceflight Center. There are currently 350 retired Minuteman 2 rockets in storage that could be used in the Air Force program. A second Minotaur launch is planned for next spring carrying an experimental Air Force research satellite.
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