{"id":1318,"date":"2013-09-07T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2013-09-07T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.orbitalhub.com\/?p=1318"},"modified":"2013-09-07T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2013-09-07T16:03:07","slug":"minotaur-v---ladee-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/?p=1318","title":{"rendered":"Minotaur V \/ LADEE Launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"float: left; padding-right: 30px;\">\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 5px;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 5px;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"580\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/hf0SIRxXvRo\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 5px;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Orbital dixit:<\/p>\n<p>Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world\u2019s leading space technology companies, announced today that its Minotaur V rocket successfully launched NASA\\&#8217;s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite.  Originating from Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia late yesterday, the LADEE mission marked the first launch of Orbital\u2019s Minotaur V rocket and the fifth Minotaur vehicle to be launched from the Wallops facility.<\/p>\n<p>The first stage of Minotaur V ignited at 11:27 p.m. (EDT) and separated the LADEE spacecraft 23 minutes later into its intended insertion point, successfully completing the rocket\u2019s five-stage sequence.  With the placement of LADEE into its highly elliptical orbit, the spacecraft began its 30-day journey to the Moon.  Upon reaching its nominal orbit approximately 31 miles above the lunar surface, LADEE will collect data on the Moon\u2019s exosphere and lunar dust environment. It will also gather information derived from new laser communications technologies, which will likely prove beneficial for future deep space missions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe launch of NASA\u2019s LADEE spacecraft aboard our new Minotaur V rocket was a tremendous success, building on our exemplary track record with today\u2019s 24th fully successful Minotaur launch,\u201d said Mr. Lou Amorosi, Orbital\u2019s Senior Vice President of Orbital\u2019s Small Space Launch Vehicle business.<br \/>\n\u201cThis mission further demonstrates the capabilities of our well-established Minotaur rocket family and our commitment to providing reliable access to<br \/>\nspace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Minotaur V is a five-stage space launch vehicle designed, built and operated by Orbital for the U.S. Air Force.  It uses three decommissioned<br \/>\nPeacekeeper government-supplied booster stages that Orbital combines with commercial motors for the upper two stages to produce a low-cost rocket for<br \/>\nlaunching smaller spacecraft into low-Earth orbit and higher-energy trajectories, such as the trans-lunar flight of the LADEE mission.<\/p>\n<p>Under the Orbital\/Suborbital Program (OSP) contract, which is managed by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), Space<br \/>\nDevelopment and Test Directorate (SMC\/SD) Launch Systems Division (SMC\/SDL) located at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, Orbital designs,<br \/>\nintegrates, tests and provides launch services to orbit with the Minotaur I, IV, V and VI rockets, as well as other suborbital capabilities with the<br \/>\nMinotaur II and III configurations.  The company has launched a total of 23 Minotaur rockets with a 100% success record dating back to January 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Employing a combination of U.S. government-supplied rocket motors and Orbital\u2019s proven commercial launch technologies, the Minotaur family of<br \/>\nlaunchers provides reliable and low-cost access to space for government-sponsored payloads.  The rockets are specifically designed to be<br \/>\ncapable of launching from all major U.S. spaceports, including government and commercial launch sites in Alaska, California, Virginia and Florida.<br \/>\nOrbital\u2019s use of standardized avionics and subsystems, mature processes and experienced personnel make Minotaur rockets both reliable and<br \/>\ncost-effective for U.S. government customers.<\/p>\n<p>Credit: NASA \/ Orbital Sciences Corporation<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.orbital.com\">Read more about Orbital Sciences Corporation&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"margin: 5px;\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Orbital dixit:Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world\u2019s leading space technology companies, announced today that its Minotaur V rocket successfully launched NASA&#8217;s Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite.  Originating from Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia late yesterday, the LADEE mission marked the first launch of Orbital\u2019s Minotaur&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[463],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-videos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1318\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbitalhub.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}