Minotaur Launches Successfully from Wallops

At 9:35 a.m. Tuesday morning NASA Wallops conducted the successful launch of a Minotaur rocket containing three military intelligence payloads.

The launch was originally scheduled for 7:00 a.m. but was moved back due to a line of storm that passed across the Eastern Shore early this morning.

The rocket carrying three national security payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), was launched today, from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s (MARS) Pad 0B on Wallops Island. The U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise is providing the launch services for this mission.

This mission, named NROL-111, will is the third small launch USSF mission and the NRO’s second dedicated launch from Wallops in the last 12 months.

The next launch from the Wallops Flight Facility will be  a Terrior Improved sounding rocket tenatively scheduled for a morning launch on June 24 and an Antares resupply mission scheduled as of now for sometime in July.

Photos courtesy NASA