Launches / Minotaur IV

Past launch Launched successfully

NROL-174

Minotaur IV, flown by Northrop Grumman Space Systems

Minotaur IV lifting off with the NROL-174 mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was Northrop Grumman Space Systems' 1st launch of 2025, and its 15th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 79th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the first from Space Launch Complex 8.

Launched
Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 7:33 p.m. UTC
Window
Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 7:00 to 9:26 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA
Rocket
Minotaur IV
Operator
Northrop Grumman Space Systems

The mission

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

Type
Government/top secret

The rocket

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.

Height
23.9 m
Built by
Orbital ATK
First flew
September 26, 2010
Lifts to low Earth orbit
1,735 kg
View 4 specifications Show less
Diameter
2.4 m
Mass at liftoff
86 t
Thrust at liftoff
2,200 kN
Stages
4

5 flights, 5 of them successful.

Wikipedia →

The operator

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.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
USA
Founded
2015
Run by
Kathy Warden, CEO

17 launches so far, 17 of them successful. The last 17 in a row went to plan.

northropgrumman.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.

See the pad on a map →

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