Northrop Grumman Minotaur I

The Minotaur I, sometimes called simply Minotaur, is an American expendable launch system derived from the Minuteman II missile and used to launch small satellites for the United States Government. It is a member of the Minotaur family of rockets produced by Orbital Sciences Corporation, now part of Northrop Grumman. The rocket uses the M55A1 first stage and SR19 second stage of a decommissioned Minuteman missile, with the Orion 50XL and Orion 38 stages from the Pegasus rocket as its third and fourth stages, and a Hydrazine Auxiliary Propulsion System upper stage can be added when greater precision is needed or several payloads must be deployed. It can place up to 580 kilograms (1,280 lb) of payload into a 185-kilometer (115 mi) low Earth orbit at 28.5 degrees of inclination, stands 69 feet tall and 5 feet wide, and has made thirteen launches, all successful, from Vandenberg Air Force Base and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.