A Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral carrying a GPS satellite

The Boeing IDS Delta II family of launch vehicles has been in service since 1989. All United States expendable launch vehicles were to be phased out for the Space Shuttle, but the Challenger accident restarted Delta development. The Delta II, specifically, was designed to accommodate the GPS Block II series of satellites. Delta IIs have successfully launched 115 projects (through August 2004), including several NASA missions to Mars: Download high resolution version (330x650, 32 KB)A Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, public domain image from af. ... Download high resolution version (330x650, 32 KB)A Delta II rocket launches from Cape Canaveral, public domain image from af. ... Categories: Stub | Defence companies | Boeing | U.S. aircraft manufacturers ... Delta EELV family of launch vehicles (US Govt) Delta rocket (sometimes retroactively called Delta I) Delta II rocket Delta III rocket Delta IV rocket The Delta family of expendable launch vehicles has been a mainstay of the United States space launch capability since 1960. ... 1989 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Space Shuttle Columbia seconds after engine ignition, 1981 (NASA). ... STS-51-L was the 25th launch of a Space Shuttle and the tenth launch of the Challenger. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... NASA Logo Listen to this article · (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-09-01, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the solar system, named after the Roman god of war (the counterpart of the Greek Ares), on account of its blood red color as viewed in the night sky. ...

• Mars Global Surveyor in 1996
• Mars Pathfinder in 1996
• Mars Climate Orbiter in 1998
• Mars Polar Lander in 1999
• Mars Odyssey in 2001
• Mars Exploration Rovers (MER-A and MER-B) in 2003

Deltas are expendable launch vehicles (ELVs), which means they are only used once. Each launch vehicle consists of: Computer generated image of Global Surveyor spacecraft (NASA) The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is a American spacecraft. ... 1996 is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... The Mars Pathfinder was launched on December 4, 1996 by NASA aboard a Delta II rocket, just a month after the Mars Global Surveyor was launched. ... The Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) was one of two spacecraft in the Mars Surveyor 98 program, the other being the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Lander). ... 1998 is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... Conceptual drawing The Mars Polar Lander was part of the Mars Surveyor 98 program, which consisted of two spacecraft launched separately, the Mars Climate Orbiter (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Orbiter) and the Mars Polar Lander (formerly the Mars Surveyor 98 Lander). ... 1999 is a common year starting on Friday Anno Domini (or the Current Era), and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... Artists concept of the 2001 Mars Odyssey Spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey is an unmanned spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. ... 2001: A Space Odyssey. ... Artists Concept of Rover on Mars NASAs Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission (since 2003) is a unmanned Mars exploration mission that includes sending two Rovers (robots) to explore the Martian surface and geology. ... MER-A (Spirit) is the first of the two Mars Exploration Rover Missions. ... MER-B (Opportunity) is the second of the two rovers of NASAs Mars Exploration Rover Mission. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An expendable launch system is a single-use launch vehicle usually used to launch a payload into space. ...

• Stage I: Kerosene and liquid-oxygen tanks that feed the Rocketdyne main engine for the ascent.
• Solid rocket booster motors: Used to increase thrust during the initial two minutes of flight. The medium-capacity Delta II has nine motors total; the newer Med-Lite models use only three or four.
• Stage II: Fuel and oxidizer tanks feeding a restartable, hypergolic Aerojet engine that fires one or more times to insert the vehicle-spacecraft stack into low Earth orbit. This stage also contains the vehicle's "brains", a combined inertial platform and guidance computer that controls all flight events.
• Stage III: Optional ATK-Thiokol solid rocket motor (some Delta II vehicles are two-stage only, and generally used for Earth-orbit missions) provides the majority of the velocity change needed to leave Earth orbit and inject the spacecraft on a trajectory to Mars; connected to the spacecraft until done firing, then separates. This stage is spin-stabilized and has no active guidance control; it depends on the second stage for proper orientation prior to Stage II/III separation.
• Payload fairing: Thin metal or composite shroud (aka "nose cone") to protect the spacecraft during the ascent through Earth's atmosphere.

The Delta II family is more technically named by a four-digit system: F-1 rocket engine Rocketdyne is the premier rocket engine design and production company in the United States. ... NASA Image of the final solid rocket booster (right) being mated to a Delta II rocket (blue). ... Hypergolic rocket fuels spontaneously ignite when their two components come into contact with each other. ... Aerojet is a major rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Sacramento, California with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange, VA, Gainesville, VA, and Camden, AK. Their products include a wide range of propulsion, from main engines used on a number of NASA vehicles and ballistic missiles, down to stationkeeping... A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit in which objects such as satellites are below intermediate circular orbit (ICO) and far below geostationary orbit, but typically around 350 - 1400 km above the Earths surface. ... An inertial navigation system measures the position and altitude of a vehicle by measuring the accelerations and rotations applied to the systems inertial frame. ...

• The first digit is either 6 or 7, denoting the 6000- or 7000-series Deltas. 6000-series, last flown in 1992, had an Extra Extended Long Tank first stage with RS-27 main engine, plus Castor IVA solid rocket boosters. The current model 7000-series have an RS-27A engine, with a longer nozzle for higher expansion ratio and better high-altitude performance, and GEM (Graphite-Epoxy Motor) boosters. GEMs are larger, and have a composite casing to reduce mass versus the steel-case Castors.

• The second digit indicates the number of boosters, usually 9. In such cases, six are lit at liftoff, three lit one minute into flight. Med-Lite vehicles, designated with a 3 or 4, ignite all boosters at liftoff.

• The third digit is 2, denoting a second stage with an Aerojet AJ10 engine. This engine is restartable, for complex missions. Only Deltas prior to the 6000-series used a different engine, the TR-201.

• The last digit denotes the third stage. 0 denotes no third stage, 5 indicates a PAM (Payload Assist Module) stage with Star 48 solid motor, 6 indicates a Star 37 motor.

For example, a Delta 7925 has the later first stage, nine GEM boosters, and a PAM third stage. A Delta 7320 is a two-stage Med-Lite with three boosters. The RS-27A is a medium-sized rocket engine developed by Rocketdyne for use on the Delta II rocket. ... The Graphite-Epoxy motor is a type of rocket engine used as a booster in the Delta II rocket, among others. ...

• A Delta II-Heavy has the larger GEM-46 boosters, originally designed for the Delta III. These are designated 7XXXH.

Three payload fairings are available. The original aluminum fairing, seen above, is 9.5 feet in diameter. A 10-foot fairing is made of composite, and can be distinguished by its tapering front and rear. A lengthened 10-foot fairing is used for the largest payloads. Through the 90s, satellite masses were growing steadily. ...

Launches of Delta II rockets (not complete)

List Date: September 07, 2005 September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 181 days remaining. ... 2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. ... The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) was a Discovery-class space mission. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vandenberg Air Force Base is a base with a spaceport, located in Santa Barbara County, California. ... ICESat (Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite), part of NASAs Earth Observing System, is a satellite mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. ... January 29 is the 29th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Over fifty GPS satellites such as this NAVSTAR have been launched since 1978. ... March 31 is the 90th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (91st in Leap years), with 275 days remaining, as the final day of March. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... June 10 is the 161st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (162nd in leap years), with 204 days remaining. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Spirit (official designation: MER-A) is the first of the two Mars Exploration Rover Missions. ... July 7 is the 188th day of the year (189th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 177 days remaining. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... August 25 is the 237th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (238th in leap years), with 128 days remaining. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST) (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)) is an infrared space observatory, the fourth and final of NASAs Great Observatories. ... December 21 is the 355th day of the year (356th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2003(MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... April 20 is the 110th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (111th in leap years). ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Gravity Probe B (GP-B) is a satellite-based mission to measure the stress-energy tensor (the distribution, and especially the motion, of matter) in and near Earth, and thus to test related models; in application of Einsteins general theory of relativity. ... June 23 is the 174th day of the year (175th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 191 days remaining. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... July 15 is the 196th day (197th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 169 days remaining. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Aura spacecraft Aura is a multi-national NASA scientific research satellite in orbit around the Earth, studying the Earths ozone, air quality and climate. ... August 3 is the 215th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (216th in leap years), with 150 days remaining. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Messenger is the following: MESSENGER is a NASA Mercury probe launched in 2004. ... November 6 is the 310th day of the year (311th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 55 days remaining. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... November 20 is the 324th day of the year (325th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Swift Gamma-Ray Burst Mission consists of an unmanned spacecraft called Swift, which was launched into orbit on November 20, 2004, at 17:16:00 UTC (12:16 PM, EST) on top of a Delta 2 rocket. ... January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Illustration of the Deep Impact space probe after impactor separation (artists conception) Deep Impact is a NASA space probe designed to study the composition of the interior of the comet Tempel 1. ... May 20 is the 140th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (141st in leap years). ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a scientific agency of the United States Department of Commerce focused on the conditions of the oceans and the atmosphere. ... September 26 is the 269th day of the year (270th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 96 days remaining. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Planned Launches

List Date: September 7, 2005 September 7 is the 250th day of the year (251st in leap years). ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

October 26 is the 299th day of the year (300th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 66 days remaining. ... 2005(MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Vandenberg Air Force Base is a base with a spaceport, located in Santa Barbara County, California. ... April 11 is the 101st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (102nd in leap years). ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. ... June 17 is the 168th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (169th in leap years), with 197 days remaining. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. ... Dawn spacecraft, powered by ion thrusters The Dawn Mission is a NASA unmanned space mission that will send an orbiting space probe to examine the asteroids Ceres and Vesta. ... October 19 is the 291st day of the year (292nd in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2006 is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. ...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has more media related to:

Delta II rocket

• Boeing IDS Page
• Delta I, II und III Site from Gunter Krebs
• History of the Delta Launch Vehicle
• Delta I Teil 2 und Delta II von Bernd Leitenberger (de)

Image File history File links Commons-logo. ... The Wikimedia Commons (also called Commons or Wikicommons) is a repository of free content images, sound and other multimedia files. ...

Delta rocket evolution (U.S. Govt.)