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United Launch Alliance’s latest Delta 2 rocket is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, a monument to an industry workhorse that helped build the fleet of GPS navigation satellites and enabled a new era exploration of Mars.
The 155th and final flight of a Delta 2 rocket took off on September 15, 2018 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California with NASA’s ICESat 2 satellite to measure changes in land and sea ice on Earth.
The launch added an exclamation mark to a string of 100 consecutive successful Delta 2 missions from 1997 to 2018. ULA had material for another Delta 2 rocket, but the company did not sell the launcher. Instead, ULA donated the Delta 2 to become the all-new Rocket Garden attraction at the KSC Visitor Complex.
“Thank you to United Launch Alliance for making this incredible addition,” said Therrin Protze, director of operations at the Visitors’ Complex, at a grand opening ceremony on March 23.
The Delta 2, with its recognizable blue color scheme, joins the Juno 1, Juno 2, Mercury-Redstone, Mercury-Atlas, Atlas-Agena, Thor-Delta and Gemini-Titan 2 vehicles found in Rocket Garden. A Saturn 1B rocket is displayed near its side.
The Delta 2 is the second largest rocket displayed in the Rocket Garden, surpassed only by the Saturn 1B.
“This is a monumental occasion as the legacy of Delta 2 will be preserved here for years to come, taking its place among the iconic giants here in the Rocket Garden,” said Ron Fortson, ULA CEO and Director general launch operations. “This is the last Delta 2. Since it won’t be launched, we couldn’t think of a better place for it than to be preserved right here in this proper place with all these other iconic rockets.”
The basic design of the Delta 2 has its origins in the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile in the late 1950s. Engineers improved the Thor missile by adding a series of more efficient upper stages, increasing the size of its tanks. propellant and installing solid strap rocket thrusters to carry heavier satellites into orbit.
Thor’s evolution into a reliable satellite launcher culminated in the Delta 2 rocket, which debuted in 1989 and housed 48 GPS navigation satellites, Martian rovers, interplanetary probes, and numerous military and military payloads. communications during his nearly 30-year career.
The Delta 2 on display in the Rocket Garden is 39 meters high, topped by a payload fairing 3 meters in diameter. Most of the rocket was built as a flight capable launcher, with the exception of three solid fuelless rocket boosters mounted around the base of the first stage.
The payload fairing features painted shark teeth, a badge reminiscent of Delta 2 launches with GPS navigation satellites. These rockets also bore shark teeth, an Air Force tradition that dates back to the volunteer pilot group “Flying Tigers” who fought Japan in China during World War II.
The Delta 2 rockets were launched with three, four or nine strap-on solid rocket thrusters to aid the first stage Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-27A main engine, which consumed kerosene and liquid oxygen thrusters for the first four minutes and half flight. .
A second stage powered by an AJ10-118K engine powered by a storable fuel mixture known as the Aerozine 50 completed the work of putting the payloads into orbit. On numerous missions, the Delta 2 has flown with a solid fuel third stage to propel spacecraft to higher orbits or to interplanetary destinations.
“The Delta 2 has been a workhorse for NASA throughout its career,” said Bob Cabana, director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. “We sent probes all over our solar systems with the Delta 2, to the planets, to the sun and missions right here on planet Earth, making Earth a better place, all thanks to this rocket.
The Delta 2 rocket exhibit is the first major addition to the visitor complex since the Atlantis Shuttle exhibit opened in 2013.
“When Atlantis moved into the Atlantis facility, it was a little heartbreaking for me to see this,” said Cabana, a former astronaut. “It’s a real rocket behind us, it could have been flying in space, but instead – just like Atlantis – it’s in her second career right now. It is an inspiring mission for future generations.
Of the 155 Delta 2 missions, 153 were successful. Delta 2 rockets lifted satellites to help predict the weather, monitor Earth’s climate change, and explore the moon, Mars, Mercury, comets and asteroids.
NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission, which carried the first rover to the Red Planet, took off from Cape Canaveral on a Delta 2 rocket in 1996. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers were launched to Mars on Delta 2 rockets in 2003, followed by the Phoenix lander in 2007, which became the first spacecraft to land on the Martian Polar Plains.
NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey orbiters were also launched on Delta 2 rockets in 1996 and 2001. Mars Odyssey is still in operation today, making it the longest Mars mission in history.
A Delta 2 rocket launched NASA’s Stardust spacecraft in 1999 to collect dust particles from Comet Wild 2, and another Delta 2 mission in 2005 deployed NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft to release a projective in copper that struck comet Tempel 1, collecting data on the internal structure of the comet composition.
Delta 2’s last launch from Cape Canaveral took off on September 8, 2011, with NASA’s GRAIL mission, a pair of probes to measure the moon’s gravity field. Five more Delta 2s took off from Vandenberg, a spaceport suitable for polar orbit launches, often used by Earth observation satellites.
“The missions were amazing and varied: the GPS that changed our lives, weather satellites, mobile satellite phones, space telescopes, trips to the Moon, Mars and Mercury, comets and asteroids, and more. countless spaceships studying our beloved Mother Earth, ”said Tim Dunn, launch director of the NASA Launch Services Program.
“The infallible Delta 2 team that earned the virtues of this rocket and its fitting nickname, the Workhorse,” said Dunn. NASA has a great history on the Delta 2 rocket. Of the 155 Delta 2 missions in total, NASA has had 54, and every one of them has been successful. “
In addition to exploration missions, Delta 2 rockets launched satellites to begin the large-scale deployment of the U.S. Army’s Global Positioning System. The first launch of Delta 2 on Valentine’s Day 1989 delivered the first of 48 GPS satellites that the Delta 2 rockets would bring into orbit.
The military utility of the GPS network was demonstrated during the Gulf War of 1991, the first conflict that extensively used satellite navigation using spacecraft launched on Delta 2 missions.
“The Gulf War was seen in many ways as the first space war,” said Brig. General Stephen Purdy, commander of the 45th Space Wing and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. “This is where the space elements of the Air Force really started to take their place. You could say that much of the groundwork was laid back then for the creation of the Space Force.
Now, billions of civilians around the world use GPS navigation signals to guide their journeys by land, sea and air.
“If you have a GPS you have to thank Delta 2 for the capabilities we have in this area,” said Fortson.
The Delta 2 rockets have also launched numerous satellites for Iridium and Globalstar, pioneer companies in the mobile telecommunications sector.
“From national security to space exploration, the Delta 2 has changed what we know about the world we live in today and it has affected all of our lives,” said Fortson.
Engineers who worked on the Delta 2 program are now working on ULA’s other rockets, such as the Atlas 5, Delta 4 and the new generation Vulcan Centaur. Others have moved on to other space companies.
“All of these groups of engineers, analysts and technicians have benefited from the unprecedented success of this rocket and its consistent performance,” said Dunn. “I believe the success of this rocket left a huge ripple effect on the launch systems we have today.”
Additional photos from the Delta 2 rocket exhibit are posted below.
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