Successful Launch for AFRL TacSat-3 Satellite Published Sept. 18, 2009 By Eva Blaylock Headquarters WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio -- An Air Force Minotaur I rocket launched the Air Force Research Laboratory's TacSat-3 satellite, National Aeronautics and Space Administration's PharmaSat microsatellite, and NASA's CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments into low earth orbit. The launch team declared the event successful after confirming spacecraft fairing and payload separation and on-orbit insertion. This mission marked the third launch of a Minotaur I launch vehicle from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, and the eighth Minotaur I mission overall. In striving for space access that is faster, cheaper, and more responsive to the needs of servicemen and women around the world, Air Force Space Command and Air Force Materiel Command maintain an ongoing partnership with AFRL and the Operationally Responsive Space office to provide the components, personnel, and expertise necessary for realizing operationally responsive space. TacSat-3 is the first mission for which payload selection occurred according to recommendations received from combatant commanders worldwide. As the mission's primary funding agent, ORS is responsible for facilitating transition of the TacSat-3 technology to operational capabilities. Accordingly, ORS will be assessing the military utility of TacSat-3--both the type of sensor employed and the low-cost spacecraft itself. Once this experiment is complete, the results of that assessment will aid the transition of this rapid-imagery technology to the warfighter.