NROL-174

Circle Image

Overview

Destination: Unknown
Mission: Government/Top Secret

Unknown Space Launch Complex 8 Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

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

Updates

SwGustav • April 16, 2025, 10:24 p.m.

Launch success


SwGustav • April 16, 2025, 7:48 p.m.

Apparent liftoff


Cosmic_Penguin • April 15, 2025, 3:59 a.m.

Tweaked T-0.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 10, 2025, 6:22 a.m.

GO for launch.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 9, 2025, 5:16 p.m.

NET April 16.


Minotaur IV

Family:
Configuration:

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.

Specifications
  • Stages
    4
  • Length
    23.9 m
  • Diameter
    2.35 m
  • Fairing Diameter
  • Launch Mass
    86.0 T
  • Thrust
    2200.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Minotaur IV
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
    Peacekeeper SLV
  • Full Name
    Minotaur IV
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    1735.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity

Orbital ATK

Orbital ATK

(OA)

President: David W. Thompson Founded: 2015 Successes: 6 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

Orbital ATK Inc. was an American aerospace manufacturer and defense industry company. It was formed in 2015 from the merger of Orbital Sciences Corporation and parts of Alliant Techsystems. Orbital ATK was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018.

INFO WIKI

Related News

Arstechnica

Rocket Report: Daytona rocket delayed again; Bahamas tells SpaceX to hold up

A Falcon 9 core has now launched as many times as there are Merlins on a Falcon Heavy.

The Launch Pad

Minotaur IV Rocket Launches Classified NROL-174 Payloads from Vandenberg in Return to California Skies

Minotaur IV Rocket Launches Classified NROL-174 Payloads from Vandenberg in Return to California Skies

Spaceflight Now

Northrop Grumman to launch first Minotaur 4 rocket from Vandenberg in 14 years

The last Minotaur 4 launch from Space Launch Complex 8 was on Aug. 11, 2011. It is returning to that pad nearly a decade and a half later, targeting a liftoff at 12:33 p.m. PDT (3:33 p.m. EDT, 1933 UTC).

SpaceNews

Minotaur IV rocket launches spy payloads for National Reconnaissance Office

The mission, designated NROL-174, lifted off at 3:33 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex 8 (SLC-8) at Vandenberg. The post Minotaur IV rocket launches spy payloads for National Reconnaissance Office appeared first on SpaceNews.

NASASpaceflight

Launch Roundup: Alpha ready for launch, Falcon 9 to launch cargo to ISS

This week will see the worldwide launch cadence slow, with only four launches scheduled. SpaceX’s… The post Launch Roundup: Alpha ready for launch, Falcon 9 to launch cargo to ISS appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.

Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Space Launch Complex 8


Falcon 9
Success
4 hours, 6 minutes ago
Starlink Group 10-28
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
4 days, 16 hours ago
Progress MS-31 (92P)
31/6 - Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan

Progress resupply mission to the International Space Station.


Long March 4C
Success
5 days, 2 hours ago
Shiyan 28 B-01
Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Satellite officially named for "space environment detection" purposes, exact details unknown.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 5 hours ago
Starlink Group 10-25
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 15 hours ago
MTG-S1
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Second of EUMETSAT's third generation of weather satellite.


New Shepard
Success
1 week, 1 day ago
NS-33
West Texas Suborbital Launch Site/ Corn Ranch - Corn Ranch, Van Horn, TX, USA

NS-33 is the 13th crewed flight for the New Shepard program and the 33rd in its history.


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Starlink Group 15-7
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


H-IIA
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
GOSAT-GW (Ibuki GW)
Yoshinobu Launch Complex LP-1 - Tanegashima Space Center, Japan

GOSAT-GW (Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Greenhouse gases and Water cycle), also known as Ibuki GW and formerly known as GOSAT 3, is JAXA's nex…


Electron
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Symphony In The Stars
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

'Symphony In The Stars' is the first of two dedicated missions on Electron to deploy a single spacecraft to a 650km circular Earth orbit for a confid…


Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 10-34
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 27 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.