Illustration of the Delta 7425-9.5 rocket with CONTOUR spacecraft. Photo: Boeing

Boeing will use a Delta 2 7425-9.5 to launch the CONTOUR satellite for NASA.

Boeing manufactures Delta rockets in Huntington Beach, Calif., with final assembly in Pueblo, Colo. The 7425-9.5 is a three-stage launch vehicle has five major assemblies: the first stage, including main engine and four strap-on solid propellant rocket motors; interstage; second stage; third stage; and 9.5-foot diameter payload fairing. The Delta 2 is approximately 126 feet tall and eight feet wide.

Manufactured by Rocketdyne, a division of Boeing, the RS-27A main engine operates on liquid oxygen and RP-1 (kerosene). The RS-27A has a sea-level thrust of 200,000 pounds. Each of the nine Alliant Techsystems solid strap-on motors has a sea-level thrust of 100,270 pounds. The main engine and four solid rocket motors burn at liftoff.

An Aerojet AJ10-118K engine powers the second stage and burns Aerozine-50 fuel and nitrogen tetroxide oxidizer. Ignited at altitude, the engine has a vacuum-rated thrust of 9,815 pounds.

The third stage is Thiokol's Star 48B solid-propellant stage.

The Boeing family of launch vehicles is derived from the Delta family of rockets built and launched since 1960. In that time 290 Deltas have been launched.

Delta 2 rockets can be configured as two- or three-stage vehicles depending on mission requirements. The latest version, the Delta 2 7925 model, can boost 3,965 pounds (1800 kg) to geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO).

Today, Boeing has a growing list of commercial customers, including Hughes Space and Communications International, Inc., Space Systems/Loral, and Motorola.

To serve its commercial customers, Boeing has agreements with the U.S. Air Force and NASA for the use of two government-owned launch pads at Space Launch Complex 17, Cape Canaveral Air Station, Fla., and one pad at Space Launch Complex 2, Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

Major subcontractors include: Alliant Techsystems, Magna, Utah, graphite epoxy motors for boost assist; Aerojet, Sacramento, Calif., second-stage engine; and L3 Communications Space & Navigation, Teterboro, N.J., Redundant Inertial Flight Control Assembly (RIFCA) provides course and attitude control.