Posted: Fri, Sep 23, 2005, 7:34 AM ET (1134 GMT)
A Minotaur rocket successfully launched a classified military satellite Thursday night. The Minotaur 1 lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, at 7:24 pm EDT (2324 GMT) Thursday, placing the STP-R1 or "Streak" satellite into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite, built by General Dynamics C4 Systems for DARPA, will carry out a classified mission believed to study the low Earth orbit environment while testing responsive space technologies. The launch, which took place shortly after sunset, created a spectacular light show visible throughout southern California, Nevada, and Arizona as the Sun backlit the contrail at high altitudes.
