U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet

DELTA II LAUNCH VEHICLE

Mission

The Delta II is an expendable launch, mediumlift vehicle used to launch Global Positioning 

System satellites into orbit, providing 

navigational data to military users. Additionally, 

the Delta II launches civil and commercial 

payloads into low-earth, polar, geosynchronous 

transfer and stationary orbits.

Features

The Delta II stands a total height of 125.75 feet 

(38.32 meters). The payload fairing -- the shroud 

covering the third stage and the satellite -- is 2. 

9 meters (9.5 feet) wide to accommodate the 

GPS satellite. A 3-meter (10 feet) stretched 

version fairing also is available for larger 

payloads. Six of the nine solid-rocket motors that ring the first stage separate after one minute 

of flight, and the remaining three ignite, then separate, after burn-out one minute later.

Background

The Delta launch vehicle family began in 1959 when NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 

awarded a contract to Douglas Aircraft Company (now Boeing) to produce and integrate 12 

space-launch vehicles. The Delta used components from the U.S. Air Force's Thor 

intermediate-range ballistic missile as its first stage and the U.S. Navy's Vanguard launch 

vehicle program as its second. The first Delta was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force 

Station, Fla., on May 13, 1960 and had the ability to deliver a 100-pound spacecraft into 

geostationary transfer orbit.

In January 1987 the Air Force awarded a contract to McDonnell Douglas, now Boeing, for 

construction of 18 Delta IIs to launch GPS satellites, originally programmed for launch on the 

space shuttle. The Delta II remains the U.S. Air Force's sole launch platform for placing GPS 

IIR satellites in orbit.

The first Delta II was successfully launched on Feb. 14, 1989, at Cape Canaveral. There are 

two primary versions of the Delta II (6925 and 7925). The Delta 6925, the first version, carried 

the initial nine GPS satellites into orbit.

Since May 1960, the Delta program has more than 270 successful military, civil and 

commercial launches. The Delta accomplished many firsts over the years. These include the 

first international satellite, Telstar I, in 1962; the first geosynchronous-orbit satellite, Syncorn II, 

in 1963; and the first commercial communications satellite, COMSAT I, in 1965.

The Delta II is launched from Cape Canaveral AFS and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. 

Members of Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, with headquarters at Patrick AFB, 

Fla., and 30th Space Wing at Vandenberg AFB are responsible for the Delta II's military launch 

missions.

General Characteristics

Primary Function: Space lift vehicle

Builder: Boeing Company, Expendable Launch Systems

Rocket features 9-11 artwork

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Power Plant, first stage: one Rocketdyne RS-27 and two LR-101-NA-11 vernier engines; 

both use refined kerosene and liquid oxygen as its propellants; thrust (sea level), 200,000 

pounds. Nine Alliant Techsystems strap-on graphite-epoxy motors surround the first stage for 

augmented lift-off; thrust, 100,270 pounds

Power Plant, second stage: restartable Aerojet AJ10-110K motor; uses nitrogen tetroxide 

and Aerozine 50 propellants; thrust, 9,750 pounds

Payload assist module: If used, Star-48B Solid-fuel Rocket: 14,920 pounds.

Thrust (at liftoff): 699,250 pounds

Height: 125 feet, 9 inches (38.32 meters)

Diameter: Fairing -- 9.5 feet (2.87 meters), core -- 8 feet (2.4 meters)

Weight: 511,190 pounds (231,870 kilograms)

Lift Capability: The Delta II can carry payloads into near-earth orbits, approximately 100 

nautical miles (160 kilometers) in space. It can lift up to 11,100 pounds (4,995 kilograms) into 

low earth orbit, 28-degree circular near-earth orbit and up to 8,420 pounds (3,789 kilograms) 

into a 90-degree polar orbit. The Delta II also can carry up to 4,010 pounds (1,804.5 kilograms) 

into geo-transfer orbit, approximately 12,000 miles (19,200 kilometers) and up to 2,000 pounds 

(909 kilograms) into geosynchronous orbit, approximately 22,000 miles (35,200 kilometers).

Payloads: DOD Global Positioning System; civil and commercial satellites

Guidance System: Delta Redundant Inertial Flight Control Assembly manufactured by Allied 

Signal Aerospace

Date Deployed: Nov. 26, 1990 (7920/7925 series)

Launch Sites: Space Launch Complex 17 Pads A and B, Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.; Space 

Launch Complex 2 West, Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

Unit cost: Not available

Inventory: Not available

Point of Contact

Air Force Space Command, Public Affairs Office; 150 Vandenberg St., Suite 1105; Peterson 

AFB, CO 80914-4500; DSN 692-3731, or (719) 554-3731.

October 2006

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