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Launch timeline - Chart with times and descriptions of events to occur during the launch.

Ground track - See the trajectory the rocket will follow during its flight.

Launch Hazard Area - Map showing the restricted area around Cape Canaveral during launch.

Delta 2 rocket - Overview of the Delta 2 7320-model rocket used to launch Swift.

Pre-launch flow - Illustration of the rocket checkout and assembly at Cape facilities.

SLC-17 - The launch complex where Delta rockets fly from Cape Canaveral.

Delta directory - See our coverage of previous Delta rocket flights.




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The Delta 2 rocket
BOEING FACT SHEET
Posted: November 11, 2004

Boeing will use a Delta 2 7320-10 to launch the Swift observatory spacecraft for NASA.

Boeing manufactures Delta rockets in Huntington Beach, Calif., with final assembly in Pueblo, Colo. The 7320-10 two-stage launch vehicle has four major assemblies: the first stage, including main engine and three strap-on solid propellant rocket motors; interstage; second stage; and 10-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 Alliant Techsystems solid strap-on motors has a sea-level thrust of 100,270 pounds. The main engine and all three 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.

Delta 7320
An illustration of the Delta 2 rocket and Swift spacecraft. Credit: Boeing
 
The Boeing Delta 2 family of expendable launch vehicles was derived from the Delta rockets built and launched since 1960. Delta's origins go back to the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was developed in the mid-1950s for the U.S. Air Force. The Thor, a single-stage, liquid-fueled rocket, was modified to become the Delta launch vehicle, which later evolved into the Delta 2.

Delta 2 rockets can be configured as two-or three-stage launch vehicles with a varying number of strap-on solid rocket boosters and two sizes of payload fairings, depending on mission requirements.

The Boeing Delta program is headquartered at Boeing Expendable Launch Systems in Huntington Beach, Calif. Manufacturing is located at the Boeing facilities in Pueblo, Colo., and Decatur, Ala.

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