Posted: Sat, Mar 20, 2021, 12:56 PM ET (1656 GMT)
Northrop Grumman will launch a Pegasus rocket for the Space Force later this year under a contract awarded with no fanfare months ago. The TacRL-2 mission is scheduled to fly by early this summer from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The space force awarded Northrop a $28.1 million contract for the mission last July, but the contract was not widely known until Vandenberg officials mentioned it at a briefing earlier this month. The mission is part of the Space Force's Tactically Responsive Launch program, but the service has not disclosed details about the payload that will be launched. Despite a surge in interest in small launch vehicles, the air-launched Pegasus has flown only a few times in the last decade because of its high price.

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