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Taurus Commercial Series

The commercial Taurus series replaced the demonstrator’s Peacekeeper first stage with a Castor 120 and retained three Pegasus-derived solid upper stages. It flew orbital missions from 1998 through 2011 in multiple fairing and upper-stage configurations, including the higher-performance Taurus XL.

Taurus Commercial Series
U.S. Air Force / 30th Space Wing · Public domain in the United States as a work of the U.S. federal government; the exact Wikimedia Commons record for this byte-matched 10 February 1998 Taurus-2210 launch photograph identifies the U.S. Air Force / 30th Space Wing as the source and author and records the work as a U.S. Air Force public-domain image. Retain the credit to U.S. Air Force / 30th Space Wing. Public-domain status may not apply identically in every jurisdiction, and this does not grant trademark, personality, or other third-party rights or imply endorsement. · Source
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Identity

Aliases
Taurus rocketTaurus XLCommercial Taurus
Family Name
Taurus
Full Name
Taurus Commercial Series
Status
retired
Type
rocket
Variant Name
Commercial / XL

Details

Description
The commercial Taurus series replaced the demonstrator’s Peacekeeper first stage with a Castor 120 and retained three Pegasus-derived solid upper stages. It flew orbital missions from 1998 through 2011 in multiple fairing and upper-stage configurations, including the higher-performance Taurus XL.
Dimensions
Diameter M
2.36
Height M
27.88
First Flight Year
1,998
Last Flight Year
2,011
Manufacturer
Operator
Parent Vehicle Family
Propulsion Configurations
  • Entries
    • Nested value
    • Nested value
    • Nested value
    • Nested value
    Name
    Taurus Standard exact four-stage configuration
    Notes
    NASA's 1998 launch-vehicle table numbers the Taurus stages 0 through 3 as CASTOR 120, Orion 50-series, Orion 50-series, and Orion 38. Northrop Grumman's Orion application table resolves the Taurus Standard variants as Orion 50ST and Orion 50T. This bounded configuration covers the documented Taurus Standard branch only; Taurus XL's Orion 50S XLT/50 XLT variants and other Taurus commercial alternatives remain separate and are not inferred here.
Rocket Specs
Liftoff Mass Kg
72,500
Payload Capacity Kg
Gto
405
Leo
1,350
Reusability
expendable
Stages Count
4

Links

Official Url
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/acrimsat.pdf
Wikipedia Url
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minotaur-C#Taurus

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
July 13, 2026 at 11:06:36 UTC
Updated Time
August 1, 2026 at 17:50:43 UTC
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Taurus Commercial Series Taurus rocket Taurus XL Commercial Taurus