The U.S.A.F. will attempt to launch a Minotaur I rocket carrying with it the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite, NASA’s PharmaSat microsatellite and NASA’s CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments — this is the fourth attempt to launch the rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility Pad 0B and it will occur on May 19th during a four hour long launch window, starting at 7:35 p.m. EDT. A backup date of May 20th has also been established, should such become necessary. The launch windows are identical for both days.
Bad weather unfortunately forced the mission team to scrub two attempts to launch last week. On the third attempt last Friday, the mission team experienced difficulties with ground support equipment at the pad. Two minutes before launch, an anomalous Flight Termination System reading occurred that required the launch attempt be scrubbed. Since then, the FTS performance has been characterized and Orbital Sciences and SMC leadership have approved the new date for the next launch attempt.
The TacSat-3 launch will be the third Minotaur vehicle launched from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s launch pad 0B on Wallops Island. Air Force Space Command’s Space and Missile Systems Center’s Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, has overall management of the mission. Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Launch Systems Group is on contract to support the Space Development and Test Wing. The Minotaur I is a 69-foot high, five-foot wide, four-stage vehicle using residual Minuteman II first and second stages in combination with the upper two stages shared with Orbital’s Pegasus XL and Taurus XL commercial space launch vehicles. In addition to the U.S.A.F.’s SDTW and AFRL, other mission participants include the DoD Operationally Responsive Space office, NASA, and the Hawk Institute in Pocomoke City, Maryland.
