Past launch
Launched successfully
STP-S29A
Minotaur IV, flown by Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Launches / Minotaur IV
Minotaur IV, flown by Northrop Grumman Space Systems
This was Northrop Grumman Space Systems' 1st launch of 2026, and its 16th in all.
Counting every operator, it was the 79th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2026, and the first from Space Launch Complex 8.
Northrop Grumman Space Systems
STP-S29A is a mission under the U.S. Department of Defense's Space Test Program (STP) that will deliver technology demonstrations to orbit and contribute to future space system development, with this launch delivering up to 200 kg of STP cubesats to Low Earth Orbit. The main payload will be STPSat-7, an ESPA class satellite based on the Aegis Aerospace M-1 satellite bus used on the STPSat-4 mission for hosting research and technology demonstration payloads for the Department of Defense (DoD). One of the payload is U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's (NRL) Lightsheet Anomaly Resolution and Debris Observation (LARADO) instrument, used to detect and characterize lethal non-trackable orbital debris with lasers in orbit.
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.
5 flights, 5 of them successful.
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.
17 launches so far, 17 of them successful. The last 17 in a row went to plan.
It went up from Space Launch Complex 8 at Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA.
This one is done, but there is another along shortly. Flyby works out whether it climbs into your sky, and wakes you in time to get outside.
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