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kevinforsyth.net
To Reach the High Frontier: A History of U.S. Launch Vehicles
"A valuable contribution to the field of aerospace literature," this book includes an extensive overview of Delta history and development along with chapters on Atlas, Titan, Scout, Space Shuttle, and much more.
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Many other excellent books about spaceflight are recommended here.
Archive for June, 2001
08-Jun-01 | NASA approves MESSENGER
Another NASA go-ahead for full-scale development has been announced, this time for MESSENGER, a $256 million mission that will be the first to orbit the planet Mercury. Mariner 10, the only other spacecraft to study Mercury, made three fly-bys in 1974-75. MESSENGER, which will spend one Earth year in orbit to compile a complete global map of the Sun’s closest neighbour, is scheduled to launch in March 2004 aboard a three-stage Delta II using the higher-powered GEM-46 booster motors of Delta III. (NASA Press Release, 07-Jun-01, refers to this as the seventh NASA Discovery mission, a distinction arguably held by Deep Impact.* Ultimately this discrepancy will be resolved by which program suffers fewer delays and launches first.)
08-Jun-01 | Boeing to change the Delta vehicle numbering system!
One of the curators of the Deep Impact web site has passed along the following, which she received while following up on an e-mail I sent correcting the use of 2925 as the Delta II vehicle designation:
- “Delta has 3 main vehicles presently: Delta II, Delta III, and Delta IV. The old numbering system used 7xxx to indicate the type of Delta II being launched. When Delta III came online, it was given the designator 8xxx initially. However, with the Delta IV scheduled for a maiden launch mid-2001, Boeing realized that their numbering system was too confusing. So to simplify, they went to a new scheme:
- Delta II is now Delta 2xxx
Delta III is now Delta 3xxx
Delta IV is now Delta 4xxx
So the old Delta II 7925 is now the Delta 2925. Same vehicle, just different numbering system. You will probably hear folks slip into the old numbers for the near future…..”
This author has mixed feelings about the change, though I can concede the new system may reduce confusion in the user community. It remains to be seen how the four-digit system will be used to describe the various models of the Delta IV.
06-Jun-01 | Delta reentry debris lands in science museum; Air Force wants it back
Space.com reports (3 June 2001) that the U.S. Air Force has requested the return of three pieces of debris from a 1996 Delta II launch that survived reentry over South Africa and which are currently on display in a Cape Town science museum. The parts are likely from the Aerojet second stage of one of three Global Positioning System launches that occurred that year. Just why the innocuous, micrometeorite-scarred fragments are important to the USAF is not mentioned.