NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility will launch Minotaur rocket on July 15

Posted: Jul 3, 2020 / 12:36 AM EDT / Updated: Jul 3, 2020 / 12:36 AM EDT

A Minotaur rocket sits on the pad at Wallops Island, Va., waiting to loft the ORS-1 satellite for the Operationally Responsive Space Office. Credit: NASA/Wallops Flight Facility

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. (WAVY) – NASA announced that a Minotaur IV rocket carrying a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office is scheduled for launch July 15 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.

This mission, named NROL-129, will be the first USSF mission from Wallops Flight Facility and the NRO’s first dedicated launch from Wallops, NASA said in a news release on Thursday.

NASA says the U.S. Space Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s Launch Enterprise Program are providing the launch services for this mission.

The launch vehicle was built and operated by Northrop Grumman. It will be scheduled for liftoff from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport’s Pad 0B on Wallops Island.

NASA says the mission may be visible along the U.S. east coast. It will be streamed live beginning at 8:30 a.m. on the Wallops YouTube channel.

The NASA Visitor Center at Wallops will not be open for this mission.

Additional mission information, including photos, will be available following the launch on the NRO, NASA Wallops, and Northrop Grumman websites, and on their social media accounts.