2006 December 16 - 12:00 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 6 Tacsat-2 Mass: 370 kg (810 lb). Spacecraft: Tacsat-2. Agency: AFRL. Perigee: 410 km (250 mi). Apogee: 426 km (264 mi). Inclination: 40.01 deg. Period: 92.93 min. Tacsat-2 was a prototype rapid development/rapid deployment tactical military satellite that provided American Joint Task Force commanders direct control of a satellite providing both SIGINT and imagery with a resolution of better than 1-m. The known communications payload used an 8 GHz (X-band) downlink. This was the first orbital launch from Wallops Island since 1985. TacSat-2 was to have been launched by a Falcon-1 from Vandenberg into a sun-synchronous orbit. However, the failure of Falcon-1 on its long-delayed maiden in March 2006 caused AFRL to award a new launch contract for TacSat-2 and TacSat-3 to OSC in May 2006. The launch was achieved using OSC's Minotaur launch vehicle only seven months after contract award.

2007 April 24 - 06:48 GMT - Launch Vehicle: Minotaur. Minotaur 1 7 NFIRE Mass: 494 kg (1,089 lb). Spacecraft: SA-200. Agency: USAFRL. Perigee: 489 km (303 mi). Apogee: 497 km (308 mi). Inclination: 48.20 deg. Period: 94.50 min. Near Field Infrared Experiment conducted by the US Missile Defense Agency. Its Track Sensor Payload included visible and short, medium and long wave infrared sensors to observe missiles launched from the ground, and obtain basic data to distinguish between the missile and its hot rocket exhaust plume for application to anti-ballistic missile systems. Secondary payloads included Tesat, a German laser communications terminal, and its hydrazine propulsion system. This was used to maneuver the satellite from its initial 255 km x 465 km x 48.2 deg orbit to 489 km x 497 km by 18 May. The orbit was changed to 243 km x 487 km on 9 August and by 23 August was 219 km x 450 km. The satellite had a dry mass of 380 kg dry, was 2.7 m long and 1.3 m in diameter.