Delta N

Delta N
Launch history
Delta N6 prior to the launch of ITOS B
Function	Expendable launch system
Country of origin	United States
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Cape Canaveral LC-17A Vandenberg SLC-2
Total launches	9
Successes	8
Failures	1
First flight	18 September 1968
Last flight	12 March 1972

The Delta N or Thor-Delta N was an American expendable launch system used for nine orbital launches between 1968 and 1972. It was a member of the Delta family of rockets, and the last Delta to be given an alphabetical designation - subsequent rockets were designated using a four digit numerical code.

The Delta N consisted of two stages. The first stage was the Long Tank Thor, a stretched version of the Thor missile, previously flown on the Delta L and Delta M. Three Castor-2 solid rocket boosters were attached to increase thrust at lift-off. A Delta E was used as the second stage. If an increased payload capacity was required, six boosters were flown instead of three, in a configuration known as the Delta N6, or "Super Six". Three launches used the N6 configuration.

Delta N rockets were launched from Launch Complex 17A at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and SLC-2 at Vandenberg AFB. There was one failure, the launch of ITOS E on October 21, 1971. The Delta second stage developed an oxidizer leak about 40 seconds into launch so that when its burn began, the engine quickly lost thrust. In addition, the leaking LOX started pushing the stage off its proper flight path. The guidance system tried to compensate by repeatedly firing the attitude control jets, but this resulted in the rapid exhaustion of their propellant and the launch vehicle started tumbling uncontrollably. The ITOS satellite separated on schedule, but was facing in the wrong direction for orbital insertion, so it simply reentered the atmosphere and burned up. The second stage itself and several pieces of debris did manage to reach orbit and remained there for several weeks.

References

Wade, Mark. "Delta". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Retrieved 2009-02-11.
Krebs, Gunter. "Thor family". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-02-11.

Orbital launch systems
See also: Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara A5 Antares 230 Ariane 5 Atlas V Delta II IV Electron Epsilon Falcon 9 v1.2 "Full Thrust" GSLV Mk II Mk III H-IIA H-IIB Kuaizhou Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B 3C 4B 4C 5 6 7 11 Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus Proton-M PSLV Rokot Safir Shavit Simorgh Soyuz-FG Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SPARK SS-520 Strela Unha Vega Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F
In development	Angara 1.2 A5P Antares 300 Ariane 6 Cyclone-4M Eris Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy H3 ITS KZ-11 KZ-21 Long March 8 9 LauncherOne Mayak Naga-L Naro-2 New Glenn Oril Proton Light Medium RPS SLS Soyuz-5 Sunkar Tronador II ULV Vector-R VLM VLS Alfa VLS Beta Vulcan
Retired	Antares 110/120/130 Ariane 1 2 3 4 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 III Diamant Dnepr Energia Europa Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos 1 2I 3 3M Lambda 4S Long March 1 2A 2E 3 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1 N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan Pilot Proton UR-500 K R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout SLV Space Shuttle Sparta Start-1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon 2 3 4 Vanguard VLS-1 Zenit 2 2M

United States orbital launch systems
Active	Antares Atlas V Delta II IV Heavy Falcon 9 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus SPARK
In development	Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy ITS New Glenn SLS Vulcan
Retired	Ares I V Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 III Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 H-I* Juno I Juno II N-I* N-II* Pilot Saturn I IB V INT-21 Scout Shuttle Sparta Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard
* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages

Thor and Delta rockets

Rockets

Thor

Delta

Alphabetical	Delta A Delta B Delta C Delta D Delta E Delta F Delta G Delta J Delta L Delta M Delta N
Numerical	Delta 0100 Delta 1000 Delta 2000 Delta 3000 Delta 4000 Delta 5000 Delta 6000 Delta 7000 Delta 8000 Delta 9000
Modern	Delta II Delta III Delta IV Delta IV Heavy

Export

Launch sites

Canaveral	(S)LC-17 LC-18B SLC-37B
Johnston	LE-1 LE-2
Tanegashima	Osaki
Vandenberg	SLC-1 SLC-2 SLC-3 SLC-6 SLC-10
Bases	Bardney Breighton Caistor Carnaby Catfoss Coleby Grange Driffield Feltwell Folkingham Full Sutton Harrington Hemswell Ludford Magna Melton Mowbray Mepal North Luffenham North Pickenham Polebrook Shepherds Grove Tuddenham

Components

Boosters

First stages

Common Booster Core

Upper Stages

Delta	Delta-A Delta-D Delta-E Delta-F Delta-K Delta-P DCSS
Other	Able Ablestar Agena Altair Burner FW-4D IABS PAM-D Star UM-129

Engines

Manufacturers

Rocket	Douglas McDonnell Douglas Boeing United Launch Alliance
Engines	Aerojet Alliant Rocketdyne Thiokol TRW

Launches

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