Posted: Fri, Jan 24, 2003, 7:28 AM ET (1228 GMT)
Orbital Sciences Corporation announced Thursday that it has won contracts for four NASA and military launches worth a total of $60 million. Orbital said it won a contract at the end of 2002 to launch NASA's Spectroscopy and Photometry of the Intergalactic Medium's Diffuse Radiation (SPIDR) spacecraft on a Pegasus launch vehicle in 2005. The company said it also won a Defense Department contract for three launches of Orbital's Minotaur vehicle: one will launch the DoD's Near-Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) spacecraft in 2004, and the other two payloads have not yet been determined. The Minotaur launches will take place over the next several years. Orbital did not disclose the individual monetary value of the two contracts, only that the aggregate value was approximately $60 million. The air-launched Pegasus is primarily used today to launch small NASA spacecraft, such as the SORCE spacecraft scheduled for launch on Saturday, although one commercial mission, to launch the OrbView-3 remote sensing satellite, is scheduled for April 2003. Minotaur, a vehicle composed of two Minuteman lower stages and two Pegasus upper stages, is limited for use by government payloads. The Minotaur has flown only twice, with both launches in 2000.

Related Links:

•  Orbital press release
•  Space News article (subscription required)