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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.
23-Feb-99 | Delta flight 267 – Argos P-91
Finally! After months of delays due to spacecraft hardware problems, and weeks due to vehicle hardware and the weather, Argos P-91, the largest experimental satellite ever flown by the Air Force, launched from Vandenberg AFB at 02:29 PST on 23 February.
Two hitchhiker payloads, Ørsted from Denmark and Sunsat from South Africa, were also successfully deployed. Argos is carrying an array of 9 high technology experiments to demonstrate next-generation satellite technology.
Delta 267, thanks to the numerous delays in the development of Argos, spent at least one year (possibly close to two) in storage at Vandenberg, yet it needed only to be dusted off to be ready to fly. That, and the fact that the Aerojet second stage spent over a month loaded with highly corrosive hypergolic propellants without leaking, are testaments to the robustness of the Delta design. This flight set a record for Delta II launch attempts, 11, though most of the scrubs were not caused by the vehicle:
- 15 January: scrubbed due to upper level winds.
- 16 January: scrubbed due to three problems: upper level winds, range considerations that winds could cause debris from an accident to fall outside the safety area, and a problem with a destruct command transmitter at a downrange tracking station.
- 20 Jan, debris concerns.
- 21 Jan, debris concerns.
- 22 Jan, upper level winds.
- 26 Jan, postponed due to weather; no operations begun.
- 27 Jan, upper level winds.
- 28 January was aborted following the engine start command, when one of the two vernier engines failed to ignite. This was likely the result of several days of tanking and detanking with liquid oxygen, causing frost to form on the first stage tank which would then melt and drizzle through the engine section.
- 07 Feb, debris concerns.
- 12 Feb, upper level winds.
- 13 Feb, spike in one of the power sources to the 1st stage electronic control package.