22 Sep 2005

On This Day in History /
2005: From Vandenberg AFB, a Minotaur rocket carried a 920-pound DARPA military research satellite into a yearlong orbit to gather information about the Earth’s environment in low orbit. The Minotaur rocket was made from decommissioned first and second stages of a Minuteman II missile.
The Minotaur is a family of United States solid-fuel launch vehicles repurposed from retired Minuteman and Peacekeeper model intercontinental ballistic missiles. Built by Northrop Grumman under the Space Force’s Rocket Systems Launch Program; these vehicles are used for various space and test launch missions.
(Launch of the Minotaur I launch vehicle with the Defense Advance Research Project Agency’s Streak satellite from Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 8, USAF Image)