Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Rocket "Minotaur" with 29 military satellites launched from the Baikonur U.S. - Reuters

Launch Minotaur

© NASA TV

MOSCOW, November 20 – RIA Novosti. The Rocket “Minotaur-1″ with the U.S. military satellite, and 28 microsatellites was successfully launched from Baikonur on Wallops Island on the east coast of the United States, broadcast on the site is run by NASA .

satellite was launched in 0515 MSK medium, 45 minutes later than planned. He became the 25th Missile “Minotaur” (Minotaur), created by Orbital Sciences based on solid-fuel ballistic missile “Minuteman” and a record number of vehicles into orbit.

The main load for the rocket will be created for the United States Air Force unit STPSat-3, which will be carried out experiments in the interest of the U.S. military and NASA. Directly below him are placed 28 small satellites standard CubeSat, which will be launched into orbit on mission ORS-3 (Operationally Responsive Space).

This joint program of several departments Pentagon, under which practiced the possibility of using small satellites and the “rapid-fire” carriers to quickly provide tactical intelligence troops on the battlefield.

After detach from the carrier STPSat-3, all the other 28 small satellites will also begin to separate from the container – they will be displayed on a circular orbit at an altitude of about 500 kilometers.

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