Best Time to See NASA Northrop Grumman Minotaur 1 Rocket Launch
With so many celestial events in recent years, it may seem strange that the next cosmic phenomenon, which will be witnessed not by a natural phenomenon, but launched into space by people. Just days after the moon and Mars coincide, NASA launches Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur 1 rocket from the Wallops space agency in Virginia on Tuesday morning, carrying a payload on behalf of the National Reconnaissance Agency (NRO).
The rocket is a ship large enough to be seen in several states in the early hours as you pour coffee or tune in to a local news broadcast before work. Here’s what to expect from NASA’s upcoming mission beyond our planet’s atmosphere.
When does Minotaur 1 NASA Northrop Grumman launch?
NASA is launching Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur 1 rocket at 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, June 15, from Wallops Air Base, which the agency hopes will provide a little visual treat in the early morning hours for observers in the mid-Atlantic region.
Like many government contracts sponsored by NASA, the aerospace and defense company’s rocket will carry three payloads for the NRO, which is a subsidiary of the Department of Defense. As noted by NASA , the mission “called NROL-111, will be the third small USSF mission and the second dedicated NRO launch from Wallops in the past 12 months.”
Weather permitting, it will emit fire streaks across the morning sky, visible at different times depending on distance from the launch site. Thankfully, NASA has provided a chart that should help figure out how long the stripes will be visible, measured in seconds immediately after launch at 7 a.m.
NASA’s launch may be too fleeting to venture outside the warmth of your home, but the agency has provided a live stream for any early morning lag behind , starting at 6:30 AM ET. After that, the lunar calendar starts to move again, and on June 24 revelers will be greeted by a strawberry moon .