History of the Delta Launch Vehicle

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.

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