An Orbital Minotaur IV+ rocket has launched from Kodiak Island, Alaska, on Tuesday, carrying an experimental communications satellite for the United States Navy and Operationally Responsive Space Office. Liftoff was on schedule at 15:49 UTC (07:49 local time). TacSat-4 is the third in a series of e...
The Minotaur IV+ launch system is derived from the Peacekeeper ICBM. The first three stages are taken directly from decommissioned Peacekeeper missiles. It is similar to the Minotaur IV, but uses a larger Star-48V upper stage in place of the Orion-38 used on the baseline Minotaur IV.