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THE MODERN DELTA PROGRAM BACKGROUND Fact Sheet
Written and Edited by Cliff Lethbridge

As was the case with the Atlas family of space launch vehicles, the Delta program faced cancellation in the early 1980's as the Space Shuttle took on an increasing frequency of satellite launching duties.

However, the Challenger explosion tragically demonstrated that the U.S. civilian, commercial and military satellite industries still required reliable expendable launch vehicles.

With priorities for the Space Shuttle fleet dramatically shifted, an improved Delta filled a gap, as had previous Delta vehicles, in providing a rocket capable of launching a wide variety of medium-weight payloads.

An immediate need for post-Challenger expendable launch vehicles was created when NASA announced that commercial satellites would no longer be carried aboard the Space Shuttle.

It was the U.S. military, however, that facilitated the official rebirth of the Delta program. The U.S. Air Force signed a renewable contract for 20 Delta rockets which would begin launching NAVSTAR Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites beginning in 1989.

A new and improved generation of Delta space launch vehicles was introduced under the name Delta II.

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© Copyright 1998 by Clifford J. Lethbridge