Minotaur IV ORS-5 Launch Broadcast

Video from the channel Orbital ATK about Minotaur IV, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 54:08. Language: English. Video type: Livestream.

This is Orbital ATK's full broadcast of the launch of the US Air Force's ORS-5 satellite. It lifted off aboard a Minotaur IV from Space Launch Complex 46 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Hosted by John Zarrella from mission control, alongside Trina Patterson of Orbital ATK. It includes interviews with Lieutenant Colonel Chad Malone, of the Space and Missile Systems Center, with Mark Bontrager, of Space Florida, and with the director of the Operationally Responsive Space office. A recorded message from Brigadier General Wayne Monteith, commander of the 45th Space Wing, is also aired.

The launch window opened around 11:15 p.m. Eastern. A new time was eventually set and liftoff came at 2:04 a.m. It was the first launch of a Minotaur from Cape Canaveral and the first from Complex 46 since January 1999, when an Athena last flew. Space Florida had refurbished the pad over roughly five and a half years. According to the broadcast, this was the twenty-sixth launch of the Minotaur family and the sixth of a Minotaur IV. Its first three stages are SR118, SR119 and SR120 motors from decommissioned Peacekeeper missiles, topped by two new Orbital ATK stages. The fifth stage was used to change the orbital plane and bring the satellite to the equator. During the coast phases, an informational video from the Space and Missile Systems Center and footage of the launch of NASA's LADEE probe, which flew on a Minotaur V from Wallops in 2013, were aired.

The final stage left the satellite in an orbit with a 604 km apogee and 599 km perigee, at 0.02° inclination, after which separation was confirmed. First contact was expected at Diego Garcia, about 42 minutes after liftoff. ORS-5, also called SensorSat, was built by MIT's Lincoln Laboratory. It is a low-orbit telescope that watches the geostationary belt and detects changes by comparing images from successive passes. It was reportedly contracted in 2014, and the combined cost of the satellite, launcher and ground system was under $100 million. Its expected lifetime is about three years.