Watch the Launch

Additional Media

NRO L-111 Launch

A Northrop Grumman Corporation #Minotaur rocket carrying three national security payloads for National Reconnaissance Office is scheduled to launch June 15 a...

Minotaur NROL111

NROL-111 Mission UpdateSet to launch | June 15, 2021 between 6:30-11:30 a.m. EDTWatch live on NASA Wallops YouTube channel.Follow our social media accounts:&nbs

NROL-111

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Low Earth Orbit
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Low Earth Orbit Launch Area 0 B Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

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

Updates

Nosu • June 15, 2021, 4:02 p.m.

Launch success confirmed by the US Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center


Nosu • June 15, 2021, 11:09 a.m.

Now targeting 13:35 UTC


Nosu • June 15, 2021, 8:37 a.m.

Hold at T-minus 2 hours 30 minutes


Nosu • June 8, 2021, 5:41 p.m.

Targeting 11:00 UTC


Nosu • June 1, 2021, 6:20 p.m.

Launch window confirmed. Setting GO.


Minotaur I

Family:
Configuration:

The Minotaur I launch system is derived from converted Minuteman II ICBMs and is used to launch small satellites for the US Government. The first and second stages, taken directly from decommissioned Minuteman missiles, are mated to the Orion third and fourth stages taken from the Pegasus XL air-launched rocket family. An optional hydrazine-powered fifth stage called HAPS can be used.The Minotaur I launch system is derived from converted Minuteman II ICBMs and is used to launch small satellites for the US Government. An optional hydrazine-powered fifth stage called HAPS can be used.

Specifications
  • Minimum Stage
    4
  • Max Stage
    5
  • Length
    19.21 m
  • Diameter
    1.67 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    36.0 T
  • Thrust
    935.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Minotaur I
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
    Minotaur OSP-SLV
  • Full Name
    Minotaur I
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    580.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    331.0 kg

Orbital Sciences Corporation

Orbital Sciences Corporation

(OSC)

Successes: 65 Failures: 7 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

INFO WIKI

Related News

Spaceflight Now

Photos: Surplus missile motor from 1960s launches classified NRO satellites

A Cold War-era missile motor cast with solid propellant in 1966 fired up for the first time Wednesday to catapult a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 rocket off a launch pad in Virginia with three small spacecraft for the U.S. government’s spy s…

Arstechnica

Cold-War-era missile launches three modern-day spy satellites

The small rockets are not cheap, but they are effective.

SpaceNews

Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur 1 rocket launches three classified NRO payloads

A Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 launched three National Reconnaissance Office payloads on June 15 at 9:35 a.m. Eastern from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

Spaceflight Now

Photos: Minotaur 1 rocket stands on launch pad in Virginia

Clad in a yellow thermal blanket that will peel away at liftoff, a 69-foot-tall Minotaur 1 rocket is standing on a launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, ready to deliver three small National Reconnaissance Office spacecraft to orbit.

NASA Spaceflight

Northrop Grumman launches second classified US government mission in two days with NROL-111

Northrop Grumman launched three national security payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) on the NROL-111 mission. The company used their solid propellant Minotaur I rocket to place the payloads into a low Earth orbit with a …

Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA

Launch Area 0 B


Starship
Success
1 day, 14 hours ago
Integrated Flight Test 6
Orbital Launch Mount A - SpaceX Starbase, TX, USA

Sixth test flight of the two-stage Starship launch vehicle.


Falcon 9
Success
2 days, 18 hours ago
GSAT-20 (GSAT-N2)
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

GSAT-20 is an Indian geostationary Ka-band high-throughput communications satellite. GSAT 20 is reportedly built on the I-6K unified modular bus a…


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 6 hours ago
Starlink Group 9-12
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 14 hours ago
Optus-X/TD7
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

An unannounced geostationary communication satellite built by Northrop Grumman, alleged for the Australian telecommunications operator Optus. Details…


Long March 7
Success
5 days, 21 hours ago
Tianzhou-8
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Seventh cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 23 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-68
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week ago
Starlink Group 9-11
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 20 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week ago
Haiyang 4-01
Launch Complex 9 - Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Next generation Chinese ocean salinity measurements satellite to study ocean climatic changes and its effects on ecology and biological cycles.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 6-69
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Koreasat 6A
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

The Koreasat 6A spacecraft, built by Thales Alenia Space, will have 20 transponders for fixed satellite services and six for TV broadcasting to repla…