Posted: Tue, Apr 24, 2007, 7:31 AM ET (1131 GMT)
A Minotaur rocket successfully launched an experimental missile warning satellite early Monday from Virginia. The Minotaur 1 lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia, at 2:48 am EDT (0648 GMT) and placed the Near Field Infrared Experiment (NFIRE) satellite into low Earth orbit. The launch had been scheduled for Monday but was delayed because of problems with ground support equipment. NFIRE will be used by the Missile Defense Agency to test sensors that could be used to detect missile launches for future missile defense systems. The launch is the second in four months from the Virginia spaceport, after another Minotaur launched the TacSat-2 and GeneSat-1 spacecraft from the spaceport in December. Another Minotaur launch is scheduled to take place from the spaceport late this year.
