Best Expendable

The Thor-Delta, recognized as the first iteration of the American Delta rocket family, was an early orbital launch vehicle developed by Douglas Aircraft Company. It was derived from the PGM-17 Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile and supplemented with a modified second stage. First launched on...

The Delta IV Medium was an orbital launch vehicle developed by Boeing as part of the United States Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. It utilized a single Common Booster Core powered by an RS-68 engine and was capable of placing medium-class payloads into orbit. Distinguis...

The Delta 3000 was an expendable orbital launch vehicle series utilized by the United States from 1975 to 1989. Manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, it served as an intermediate step in the Delta rocket family, bridging the capability gap between the Delta 2000 and Delta 4000 models. The vehicle was d...

The Delta 2000 was an American orbital launch vehicle introduced in 1974 by McDonnell Douglas as part of the Delta rocket family. It utilized an upgraded first stage powered by the Rocketdyne RS-27 engine, replacing the older MB-3 engine used in previous iterations. The vehicle also incorporated Cas...

The Delta IV Medium+ (4,2) was an expendable orbital launch vehicle configuration operated by the United Launch Alliance as part of the Delta IV rocket family. It was distinguished by its use of a four-meter-diameter payload fairing paired with two GEM-60 solid rocket boosters strapped to the first...

The Delta 1000 series was a group of American expendable launch vehicles introduced in 1972 by McDonnell Douglas as part of the broader Delta rocket family. It succeeded the earlier alphabetically designated Thor-Delta rockets and was the first to utilize a modernized four-digit numbering system to...

The Delta IV Medium+ (5,2) is an expendable launch vehicle variant operated by the United Launch Alliance (ULA) designed for medium-lift orbital missions. Its specific configuration includes a 5-meter diameter payload fairing and two GEM-60 solid rocket boosters strapped to a Common Booster Core pow...

Delta D was an early American expendable launch vehicle, a variant of the Thor-Delta rocket family used by NASA in the mid-1960s. Distinguished from earlier Delta models by the addition of three Castor I solid-fuel strap-on boosters augmenting the first-stage Thor rocket, it achieved a meaningful in...

The Delta M was an American expendable launch system introduced in 1968 as part of the extensive Thor-Delta rocket family. Developed by McDonnell Douglas, this variant upgraded the earlier Delta E by incorporating three Castor II solid-fuel strap-on boosters to increase thrust during liftoff. The De...

Delta E was an American Delta rocket variant introduced around 1965 with an upgraded second-stage engine and enlarged tanks, offering improved payload performance over earlier lettered Delta versions.

Delta C was an American orbital launch vehicle used by NASA in the 1960s. An evolution of the earlier Thor-Delta rockets, it introduced a solid-fuel third stage to increase payload capacity for higher Earth orbits. The rocket flew 13 times between 1963 and 1969, successfully deploying several early...

The Delta J was an expendable launch system in the Delta rocket family, utilized by the United States in the late 1960s. It was derived from the earlier Delta E rocket but featured an upgraded third stage powered by a Star 37 solid rocket motor. This specific modification significantly increased the...

Delta N was an expendable American launch vehicle in the Delta rocket family, which evolved from the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile and was used for civilian space launches. The N configuration belonged to the alphabetically designated Delta variants flown before later numbered series bec...

Delta B was an early American expendable launch vehicle in the Delta rocket family, derived from the Thor ballistic missile and developed for civilian orbital missions. Introduced in the early 1960s, the configuration used enlarged first-stage propellant tanks compared with earlier Thor-Delta vehicl...

Delta A was a 1962 variant of the American Delta rocket featuring an upgraded Aerojet main engine, representing the first incremental improvement over the original Thor-Delta configuration.

Delta L was an American Delta rocket variant of the late 1960s, part of the alphabetically designated series that bridged the original Thor-Delta and the later numbered Delta rocket families.

Delta G was an American Delta rocket variant of the mid-1960s configured without strap-on boosters, optimized for delivering lighter payloads to low Earth orbit.

The Delta 4000 was an American orbital launch vehicle of the late 1980s that flew only once before being superseded by the Delta II, which became the standard US medium-lift booster.

The Delta III was an American launch vehicle that flew only three times between 1998 and 2000, suffering two failures and one partial success, making it commercially unviable before retirement.