 They say that most eras end, but such is not the case for a unique group of people who build and launch a pioneering American launch vehicle whose satellites revolutionized weather forecasting brought live television events from around the world into your home and investigated the mysteries of our universe During the early years of America's space program most of the public's interest was focused on man going to the moon But during that same incredible epic a story unfolded about a little publicized launch vehicle named Delta which orbited history-making satellites that helped to change the culture of hundreds of millions of people living on our planet Today Delta has a vital date with destiny It is about to launch a scientific messenger to keep an appointment with the beginning of time the creation of the universe This is the story about Delta and its people in their pursuit of excellence with a legendary rocket Which earned the reputation of being the best in the world? Today marks the 189th Delta launching over a 30-year period This magnificent flying machine will send the cosmic background explorer or Kobe for short into space to study the Radiation remaining from the cataclysmic explosion called the Big Bang Which spawned the birth of our universe some 15 billion years ago? The countdown progresses smoothly To understand this space vehicles remarkable success record of 94 percent One must look back into time to understand the philosophy of the people who first created the Indominable Delta in the embryonic space age of the 1950s America's space program in the 1950s was struggling with failure after failure being chronicled in the day's top news stories then on October 4th 1957 Sputnik shocked the world sending unprecedented electronic beeps to radio and television stations around the world as Commentators struggled to explain the phenomenon to hundreds of millions of people The fact that the Soviet Union was the first into space Tarnished America's technological image and challenged its leadership worldwide public concern soared higher than ever on January 31st of 1958 the United States orbited its first satellite explorer one Vanguard one followed about two months later The space race had begun On April 28th, 1959 Delta was born when the newly created space agency named NASA Signed a 24 million dollar contract with the Douglas aircraft company now the McDonald Douglas corporation for 12 launch vehicles Delta's configuration would be a three-stage launch vehicle the first stage utilizing the Thor missile and The second and third stage hardware from the Vanguard rocket Managed by NASA's Goddard space flight center Delta was to be an interim vehicle to fill a two-year gap when more powerful vehicles would replace it Launch vehicles like Delta are complicated dangerous devices that require disciplined vigilance to achieve success During an era of change when rocket technology was in its infancy Delta's early success record was a remarkable achievement It is ironic that the first Delta launching on a Friday the 13th of May in 1960 failed Presenting the Delta team with its first major challenge pinpoint the problem After exhausted ground testing the reason for the failure was identified and fixed Three months later Delta scored its first success by orbiting echo one a Communication satellite that would be seen by more people than any other man-made object President Eisenhower took part in the first transmission It is a great personal satisfaction to participate in this first experiment in communication Involving the use of the satellite balloon known as echo Following echo Delta ran off 22 straight successes Rapidly earning the reputation of being the most versatile and reliable of American launch systems earning the nickname Workhorse as Viability improved over the years Delta passed the test of time by achieving 43 successful launchings in a row some 25 years later Delta's success can be traced not only to superior hardware provided by its contractors But to the people of the government industry team Especially their first leader a crew cut engineer named Bill Schindler One of the youngest project managers in the history of NASA Schindler brought to the Delta program a sound engineering background and a simple philosophy Keep costs down make it work and always satisfy your spacecraft customer This philosophy filtered down to every member of the NASA McDonald Douglas team bonding a lifetime partnership Creative honest highly competitive and a tireless worker Schindler had a vision that Delta could provide flexible dependable access to space exploration He knew where he wanted to go and possess the leadership ability to bring the Delta people along with it more than a thousand people engineers administrators technicians manufacturers suppliers all dedicated to the common goal The Delta team established a standard of excellence a claimed worldwide During the 1960s Yuri Gagarian a Russian became the first human to orbit the earth President John F. Kennedy was assassinated Chubby checker and the twist with a rage of the nation an American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon Meanwhile with little public recognition Delta chalked up an impressive list of difficult Launchings and space firsts One of Delta's many firsts was the United Kingdom's aerial the first international satellite to be launched by the United States This 1962 launching marked the first of many international space missions whereby the United States would be reimbursed hundreds of millions of dollars for the use of Delta Contributing substantially to the United States balance of payments and creating thousands of new jobs in American industry Also during 1962 AT&T's Telstar one the first privately built Communication satellite beamed the first live television show from France to the United States AT&T paid the US Treasury $2.6 million for the Delta Telstar launching Possibly the most remarkable of the early Delta launchings was the world's first geosynchronous satellite named syncom one From its vantage point 22,300 miles above the equator Syncom remained at the same point above earth Making it possible for the first time to beam telephone calls and television programs like the 1964 Olympics from one continent to another This unprecedented orbital task Silenced those critics who said that achieving a synchronous orbit was too risky to be worthwhile In 1965 Delta launched the first operational Communication satellite early bird for the newly created communication satellite corporation as the result of early bird Telephone capacity across the Atlantic increased by two-thirds with costs per call dropping sharply In a conference call with statesmen in Europe President Lyndon B Johnson said This moment marks a milestone in the history of communications between peoples and nations for the first time a man-made satellite of earth is being put into commercial service as a means of communication between continents occasion is as happy as it is historic Satellites launched by Delta fueled a revolution in communications technology Providing the world with a box-seat view of history being made When American astronaut Neil Armstrong walked on the moon's surface in 1969 700 million people from the earth's four corners watched his movements and heard his historical first words live via satellite communication satellites projected all nations into the mainstream of modern world communications new avenues to trade education entertainment and the many kinds of political discourse essential to international understanding in Only 10 years communication satellites achieved what had eluded man for 10,000 years According to folklore Mark Twain said everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it But Delta did something about it by launching a series of weather satellites during the 1960s named Tyros Tyros provided the National Weather Service with man's first view of the world's cloud cover Constantly on guard for those inevitable moments when friendly weather turns to foe Weather measuring instruments aboard these sentinels in the sky Tell us when a far away low-pressure system over our oceans may develop into a dangerous hurricane Weather satellites created a new industry resulting in large economic benefits to the agriculture trucking and shipping industries What have better forecasts from these weather observers meant in estimated cost and human benefits a Three to five day improved weather prediction can save the agricultural industry an estimated five billion dollars annually and Chipping operations in the Arctic Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Seaway can save about five million dollars a year Or how about the countless lives and millions of dollars in property damage saved through advanced warnings of destructive hurricanes? During Delta's first decade it also sent a series of scientific messengers named Explorer into orbits around the earth moon and sun to study the solar wind cosmic rays and planet Earth's magnetic field and radiation belts as The decade of the 60s ended 68 of the 74 Delta launches worked to near perfection for an astounding batting average of 92 percent To accommodate spacecraft growth during the 60s several engineering innovations made it possible for Delta to orbit spacecraft 10 times heavier and the good news for Delta customers was that the price increase was less than the cost of inflation During the 70s a ceasefire was declared in Vietnam Hank Aaron hit his 215th home run besting Babe Ruth's record America celebrated its 200th birthday and Delta's list of customers looked like the telephone directory for the United Nations Delta's schedule included a host of scientific and communications satellites designed and built by the European Space Agency Indonesia Japan Italy Germany France Canada United Kingdom and NATO These foreign space teams were totally dependent on a highly reliable cost-effective on schedule launch system Delta met their needs For Delta it was an international decade popularizing the word Reimbursable with 38 of the 76 launchings being paid for by the customer During the decade of the 70s the need for advanced communication satellites expanded rapidly Delta launched 29 communication satellites for foreign countries and private companies like comm sap RCA and Western Union to deliver live television reports instant telephone calls and computer data exchanges Nearly 200 nations and territories now depend on this communication service, which has annual revenues in the billions of dollars In a remote Eskimo village in Canada's Yukon children learn their ABCs via space They watch Sesame Street and other children's programs courtesy of Canada's anic communication satellite launched by Delta Another Delta launched communication satellite named Palapa United the country of Indonesia in a way not previously possible Palapa provides telephone and television channels to a nation of more than 160 million people living on more than 13,000 islands in Asia covering a stretch of ocean some 3,100 miles long This remarkable satellite system makes it possible for schools and universities Industrial plants and oil drilling platforms at sea to keep in constant touch with the rest of the world in 1972 Delta faced one of its most demanding tests the launching of a path-finding satellite named earth resources technology satellite later renamed Landsat Costing more than 100 million dollars Landsat was the most expensive satellite launched up to that time by Delta To carry out the Landsat mission the Delta team had to make major changes in the propulsion and guidance system Recognizing what was at stake with the international earth sciences community the Delta team made the necessary vehicle modifications without a previous test launching a Vivid testimonial of their faith in themselves to make the system work And work it did Providing dramatic detailed pictures containing new information about man's most essential needs food water and energy Forcing us to become wiser and more efficient custodians of earth's limited resources Landsat provided scientists with a view of the eerie and unexpected beauty of our planet Enabling them to identify diseased crops map earth's crust for potential oil deposits Locate pollution Monitor the depletion of our forests and inventory fresh water supplies the most important single resource on earth The most productive telescope in the solar system That's what astronomers call the IUE satellite Launched with Delta in 1978 IUE is still operating after 12 years Open to all scientists worldwide Some 1600 astronomers from all five continents have used IUE for their investigation of the universe By the end of the 1970s Delta's reliability over 20 years and 150 launchings was an impressive 93 percent To meet the rapidly changing demands of the satellite community Delta once again underwent several changes Such as the straight eight look making its diameter the same from the bottom upward Delta's performance for placing a satellite into synchronous transfer orbit increased to over 2000 pounds Quite a difference from the 146 pound syncom of 1963 vintage In the decade of the 80s the united states shocked the sporting world by defeating the russian hockey team in the winter olympics President reagan was shot and seriously wounded Sally ride became the first american woman to go into space The berlin wall opened to unrestricted travel And for the delta rocket it was business as usual Beginning its third decade delta's performance continued to grow to accommodate its customers of the 1980s A host of very large communications weather and landsat satellites to constantly monitor our planet's pulse several pioneering scientific satellites And a challenging military mission for the defense department spacecraft wait for these communications satellites tip the scale at almost 3000 pounds Some of these switchboards in the sky can handle 24 000 telephone calls simultaneously Or 24 television channels compared to 240 phone calls or only one television channel on early bird in 1965 One of several scientific missions was the 1983 launching of a satellite named iras Which explored the heretofore invisible infrared universe iras discovered the first evidence for another planetary system like our own in its first stage of growth Another 1983 mission involving a complex scientific mission to study cosmic x-rays for the european space agency severely tested delta's ability to be launched on short notice Because of scheduling problems with another rocket the exosat satellite had to be launched over a period of only a few days And the target date was only four months away The delta team accomplished a two-year task during this four month deadline successfully launching exosat precisely on time The 180th delta launching was one of the greatest challenges in the vehicle's distinguished history The mission was the first for defense purposes and was given a top priority by the president of the united states In less than two years the delta people assembled the launch vehicles Built new unique orbital stages and integrated the scientific payloads for this national defense space spectacular The mission proved that a network of american defense rockets could intercept and destroy potential enemy missiles Before they could strike our cities or other targets This extraordinary program exceeded all objectives and was called the most complex command and control space mission ever conducted by the united states What made delta unique compared to other launch vehicle systems? It was the delta philosophy over three decades, which never changed Reliability it had to work service Meet the satellite customer's needs cost effectiveness Keep the price down improvements systematically phased in over several years using proven systems Careful, but constant change using the benefits of state-of-the-art technology And delta folks at nasa mcdonald douglas and the many contractors who devoted most of their careers working together Making it a way of life rather than a job 30 years Yet the thrill of launch is still there for the delta people as the countdown for the delta 189 kobe mission near zero Another delta heads for space This time with a satellite named kobe whose instruments will peer back to the beginning of time To investigate the fossil radiation remains and the seeds which led to today's structure of the universe With the launching of delta 189 the torch is being passed by nasa to the defense department and mcdonald douglas For a commercial transportation system called delta 2 Delta 2 will carry on with the same tradition in the 90s and into the 21st century When dreamers creators and builders of future generations will establish human colonies in space In man's quest to explore the final frontier Delta changed the course of history Making it possible for many groups and nations to go into space When historians of future generations discuss delta's place in the annals of space rocketry They are sure to devote several pages to this workhorse And the prominent men and women of delta for the role they played for the benefit of all mankind