After a first launch on Valentine's Day almost 30 years ago, the Delta II rocket became a beloved animal launcher for military, scientific and commercial missions.

Saturday morning in California, a 132-foot Delta II is expected to take off for the 155th and last time, carrying a $ 1 billion mission devoted to NASA's climate science.

This is the end of the line for the turquoise and white propeller that has launched dozens of GPS satellites that have helped transform military operations and daily life, and more than a handful of spacecraft on Mars, among its many strong points.

"I'm a bit melancholy about this," said Tim Dunn, NASA's mission director. "Delta II occupies a very special place in the hearts of many launchers."

The launch of Space Launch Complex-2 in Vandenberg is scheduled for 8:46 am EDT Saturday, opening a 40-minute window. The forecast shows no weather concerns.

Delta II's final mission comes two months after the 45th Space Wing demolished the twin skates of Launch Complex 17, the former rocket house at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base.

A final Delta II took off almost seven years to the day, launching NASA's GRAIL mission to map the gravity fields of the moon.

In total, Launch Complex 17 hosted 110 Delta II missions, including 48 GPS launches.

Other notable NASA missions include the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers; Orbiter Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey; Mars Pathfinder Lander; Spitzer Space Telescope; the Messenger probe in mercury orbit; the asteroid explorers NEAR and Dawn; and the Deep Impact, a comet.

The rocket has also deployed spacecraft and earth sciences, such as Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, which will be launched on Saturday.

"The Delta II vehicle has probably touched the lives of all people in America with the technology it has made possible in its 30 years of existence," said Scott Messer, NASA's Program Manager at NASA. United Launch Alliance.

A successful final launch would be the hundredth in a row of a Delta II, an extremely reliable rocket that is also remembered as one of the most spectacular failures of the modern era.

On January 17, 1997, a Delta II carrying a GPS satellite exploded 13 seconds after its flight from Cape Town, raining debris on the launch team's blockhouse and destroying cars parked nearby.

Delta II is born of tragedy. After the 1986 NASA Space Shuttle Challenger crash that killed seven astronauts, the military was forced to find a different way to get GPS satellites into space.

McDonnell Douglas won a contract to develop the Delta II and start launching GPS satellites that would otherwise have been launched on the shuttle.

The company was later acquired by Boeing, which merged its Delta fleet with Lockheed Martin's Atlas rockets in 2006 through the joint venture United Launch Alliance.

For the final launch, ULA has taken up the tradition of placing stars on the rocket that once counted the number of successful launches. This time around 200 stars are signed by about 800 retirees, clients and others who have participated in the program over the years.

"It's a very important part of the history of space and a very important part of everyone's life in America," said Messer.

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Goodbye, Delta II

• Rocket: United Launch Alliance Delta II 7420-10 (with four solid side engines)
• Mission: NASA 2 ice, cloud and land elevation satellite (ICESat-2)
• Launch time: 8:46 am EDT Saturday
• Launch window: 40 minutes at 9:26 am EDT
• Launching Complex: 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California
• Weather: 100% "go"

Visit floridatoday.com to watch NASA TV broadcast the final launch of the Delta II rocket, which will be broadcast live from 8:10 am ET Saturday.

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