Minotaur 1 rocket takes 2 satellites into space

Minotaur 1 rocket takes 2 satellites into space

A four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket blasted away from its launch pad from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport.

It carried two experimental satellites for U.S. Air Force and NASA. The launch was originally planned for Monday, but the launch could only take place on Saturday due to a software glitch.

One of the two satellites is the Air Force’s TacSat-2 satellite. This would test the military’s ability to transmit images of enemy targets to battle field commanders in minutes.

The second satellite is the NASA’s shoebox-size GeneSat-1 satellite which carries a harmless strain of E. coli bacteria as part of an experiment to study the long-term effects of space on living organism.