Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/08/23/the-end-of-the-delta-rocket-ne.html
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oooOOoooooh! (bang) aaaaaaaah!
whoa.
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We shouldn’t phase it out. It’s an excellent vehicle.
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Saw my first rocket launch in the Spring. It was a Delta IV. Nice memory.
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It is, but even ULA admit that it is ridiculously expensive which is why the Vulcan is now under construction.
The reason they shouldn’t retire It is purely aesthetic - just look at that beautiful exhaust with those amazing shock diamonds!
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Maybe NASA or someone else will do a high-level re-design of the entire Delta vehicle system using the latest manufacturing practices and learnings from SpaceX’s practices?
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The lesson of SpaceX is “don’t use hydrogen as a fuel source”. My understanding is that the benefits of hydrogen’s greater specific impulse are completely outweighed by the other choices that are forced (thanks to hydrogen embrittlement, etc.), to the point that a relatively outmoded fuel like Kerosene can win.
What’s to watch for now is the competition between Blue Origin and SpaceX to get to lox/methane rockets. If either succeeds with a commercial rocket powered by methane, expect to see the NASA SLS cancelled if it hasn’t been already.
In retrospect, this article did not age well:
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Reminds me I finally took the kiddo to the Kansas Cosmopshere. I haven’t been back since I worked there like 20 years ago. The museum used to be like $6 bucks or something, now its $13. But boy did they add a lot. I couldn’t even get my bearings as to which where everything was in relation to when I worked there. They really remodeled and added a lot, including a whole Titian rocket.
The Liberty Bell wasn’t on display, but they finally finished the V2 room. Oddly they did away with the Goddard replica, though he was mentioned. They did have the Apollo 13 capsule, now fully restored, and both a Vostok and Voskhod capsule! I realized too late that I didn’t see the Lunakhod, and wonder if they still had it, or if it was tucked away 
I had fun narrating the failed Vanguard 1 launch to the kiddo:
“OH, oh no. That isn’t supposed to happen. Someone, oh god, I’m sorry. Now the top part fell off…”
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It sure looks like the self destruct device created this explosion. A quick wiki check confirms this. The major explosion was too symmetric for me to think otherwise.
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you saw that…
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