September 25, 2010 - Vandenberg Air Force Base. Orbital, one of the world's leading space technology companies, today announced that it successfully launched the US Air Force's Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) Satellite, also known as SBSS Block 10, aboard a Minotaur IV rocket. The launch, which took place on Saturday, September 25, 2010 from Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, extends Orbital's record of launches with the Minotaur family of rockets to a perfect 18 successes out of a total of 18 missions. The Minotaur IV rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex-8 at VAFB at 9:41 pm (PDT). The rocket flew an orbital trajectory downrange over the Pacific Ocean and delivered the SBSS satellite to the desired separation conditions. The Minotaur IV launch vehicle is based on decommissioned Peacekeeper rocket motors that Orbital has upgraded and integrated with modern avionics and other subsystems to produce a cost-effective launcher based on flight-proven hardware. The launch of the SBSS satellite marks the first orbital mission for the Minotaur IV, which currently has a manifest of eight missions over the next several years.