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Delta M

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American expendable launch system

Launch history
Launch of first Delta M, withIntelsat III F-1
Function	Expendable launch system
Country of origin	United States
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Cape Canaveral,LC-17A
Total launches	13
Success(es)	11
Failure	2
First flight	18 September 1968
Last flight	17 March 1971
[edit on Wikidata]

TheDelta M orThor-Delta M was an Americanexpendable launch system used for thirteenorbital launches between 1968 and 1971. It was a member of theDelta family of rockets.

The Delta M had a three-stage configuration. The first stage was theLong Tank Thor, a stretched version of theThor missile, previously flown on theDelta L. ThreeCastor-2 solid rocket boosters were attached to the first stage to increase thrust at lift-off. ADelta E was used as the second stage, and the third stage was aStar-37D solid rocket motor. On the final flight, six boosters were flown instead of three, in a configuration known as the Delta M6, or "Super Six."

All thirteen launches were made fromLaunch Complex 17A at theCape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS). The first launch carryingIntelsat III F-1 on 18 September 1968, was a complete failure when the first stage began suffering abnormal pitch gyrations starting at T+20 seconds. The booster maintained a stable attitude until around T+100 seconds when it pitched over and began to break up from structural loads. As the Delta was also headed back towards land,Range Safety Officer sent the destruct signal at T+108 seconds. It was bound for aGeostationary transfer orbit above theAtlantic Ocean and be in operation in time to relay broadcasts of the next month's1968 Summer Olympics inMexico City.^[1]^[2]^[3]

The fifth launch on 25 July 1969,Intelsat III F-5 suffered a rupture of either the third stage casing or nozzle and ended up in an unusable orbit. Of the thirteen launches, twelve carriedgeosynchronous communications satellites. The thirteenth, which was the final flight and the only one in the Delta-M6 configuration, placedExplorer 43 into ahighly elliptical orbit.^[4]^[5]

References

[edit]

^"Rocket explodes after launch; new satellite lost". The St. Petersburg Times (Florida). UPI. 19 September 1968. p. 11A.
^"Blast ends orbit try for satellite". Spokane, Washington: The Spokesman-Review. Associated Press. 19 September 1968. p. 1.
^"Olympic Games Relay Satellite Misfires, Explodes Over Atlantic". Journal and Courier. 19 September 1968. p. 2. Retrieved4 August 2025 – via newspapers.com.
^Wade, Mark."Delta". Archived fromthe original on 24 July 2008.
^Krebs, Gunter."Thor Family".Gunter's Space Page.Archived from the original on 6 August 2007. Retrieved21 December 2021.

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Eris^† Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 6C 7 7A 8 11 11H 12 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB Spectrum^† SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Ceres-2 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 HANBIT-NANO Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kinetica 2 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf RFA One SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 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 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIA H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 2-1v Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^† 2
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Orbital launch systems developed in the United States
Active	Atlas V**^†† Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Minotaur I IV V C New Glenn Pegasus XL SLS Block 1 Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona I Eclipse Neutron Nova Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Starship Terran R
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230/230+^††† 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 II III IV IV Heavy Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II LauncherOne N-I* N-II* Pilot Rocket 3 RS1^† Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Terran 1^† 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 ** - uses Russian engines ^† - never succeeded ^†† - no new orders accepted and production stopped ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage

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