Delta C

	The first Delta C launches with Explorer 18
Function	Expendable launch system
Manufacturer	Douglas Aircraft Company
Country of origin	United States
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Cape Canaveral LC-17
Total launches	13
Success(es)	12
Failure	1
First flight	27 November 1963
Last flight	22 January 1969
	[ edit on Wikidata]

Last updated December 30, 2025

The Delta C, or Thor-Delta C was an American expendable launch system used for thirteen orbital launches between 1963 and 1969. It was a member of the Delta family of rockets.

Configuration

The first stage was a Thor missile in the DSV-2A (MB-3-II) configuration, and the second stage was the Delta D (AJ-10-118D), which was derived from the earlier Delta.^[1] The baseline Delta C used an Altair-2 (X-258) third stage,^[1] whilst the Delta C1 had an FW-4D third stage, which provided a higher payload capacity than the Altair. It is unclear whether two or three launches were made using the C1 configuration.

Launches

The Delta C was launched from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 17. Most launches carried NASA research satellites into low Earth orbit.^[2]^[1]

Variant	S/N	Date	Launch Site	Payload	Result
Delta C	387/D-21	27.11.1963	CC LC-17B	Explorer 18 (IMP A)	Success
Delta C	392/D-26	04.10.1964	CC LC-17A	Explorer 21 (IMP B)	Success
Delta C	393/D-27	21.12.1964	CC LC-17A	Explorer 26 (EPE D)	Success
Delta C	374/D-28	22.01.1965	CC LC-17A	TIROS 9	Success
Delta C	411/D-29	03.02.1965	CC LC-17B	OSO 2	Success
Delta C	441/D-31	29.05.1965	CC LC-17B	Explorer 28 (IMP C)	Success
Delta C	415/D-32	02.07.1965	CC LC-17B	TIROS 10	Success
Delta C	434/D-33	25.08.1965	CC LC-17B	OSO C	Failure
Delta C	445/D-36	03.02.1966	CC LC-17A	ESSA 1	Success
Delta C	431/D-46	08.03.1967	CC LC-17A	OSO 3	Success
Delta C	490/D-53	18.10.1967	CC LC-17B	OSO 4	Success
Delta C1	436/D-38	25.05.1966	CC LC-17B	Explorer 32 (AE B)	Success
Delta C1	487/D-64	22.01.1969	CC LC-17B	OSO 5	Success

References

1 2 3 Krebs, Gunter. "Thor Family". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on August 6, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2021.
↑ Wade, Mark. "Delta". Archived from the original on July 24, 2008.

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[:0-1] 1 2 3 Krebs, Gunter. "Thor Family". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on August 6, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 2021.

[2] Wade, Mark. "Delta". Archived from the original on July 24, 2008.

[1]

[2]

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 HANBIT-NANO ^† 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 12A 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 3
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Ceres-2 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 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 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

Delta C

Contents

Configuration

Launches

References