Delta 5000

Delta 5000 series
	Launch of the Delta 5920 with COBE
Function	Expendable launch system
Country of origin	United States
Cost per launch	US$34.22 million in 1985 (US$79.99 million in 2018)
Size
Height	34 m (112 ft)
Diameter	2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
Mass	201,580 kg (444,410 lb)
Stages	2
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	3,848 kg (8,483 lb)
Payload to GTO
Mass	1,405 kg (3,097 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	Delta
Comparable	Delta 4000, Delta II
Launch history
Status	Retired
Launch sites	Vandenberg SLC-2W
Total launches	1
Success(es)	1
UTC date of spacecraft launch	18 November 1989
Boosters – Castor 4A
No. boosters	9
Height	9.12 m (29.9 ft)
Diameter	1.02 m (3 ft 4 in)
Empty mass	1,529 kg (3,371 lb)
Gross mass	11,743 kg (25,889 lb)
Powered by	Solid
Maximum thrust	478.3 kN (107,500 lbf)
Specific impulse	Sea level: 237 seconds; Vacuum: 266 seconds; ;
Burn time	56 s
First stage – Thor/Delta ELT
Height	22.37 m (73.4 ft)
Diameter	2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
Empty mass	4,360 kg (9,610 lb)
Gross mass	84,368 kg (186,000 lb)
Powered by	1 RS-27
Maximum thrust	1,030.2 kN (231,600 lbf)
Specific impulse	Sea level: 262 seconds; Vacuum: 296 seconds; ;
Burn time	223 s
Propellant	LOX / RP-1
Second stage – Delta K
Height	5.89 m (19.3 ft)
Diameter	2.44 m (8 ft 0 in)
Empty mass	950 kg (2,090 lb)
Gross mass	6,954 kg (15,331 lb)
Powered by	1 AJ10-118K
Maximum thrust	43.6 kN (9,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	319 s
Burn time	431 s
Propellant	N2O4 / Aerozine 50
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Delta 5000 series was an American expendable launch system which was used to conduct an orbital launch in 1989. It was a member of the Delta family of rockets. Although several variants were put forward, only the Delta 5920 was launched. The designation used a four digit numerical code to store information on the configuration of the rocket. It was built from a combination of spare parts left over from earlier Delta rockets, which were being retired, and parts from the Delta II 6000-series, which was just entering service.

The first stage was the RS-27 powered Extended Long Tank Thor, flown on several earlier Delta rockets. Nine Castor-4A solid rocket boosters were attached to increase thrust at lift-off, replacing the less powerful Castor-4 boosters used on the 3000 series. The Delta-K was used as a second stage. In the configuration that was launched, no third stage was flown.

The Delta 5000 was launched just once, from Space Launch Complex 2W at the Vandenberg Air Force Base. Launch occurred at 14:34 on 18 November 1989. It was successful, and placed the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) spacecraft into low Earth orbit.^[2]^[3]

Payload

The Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE /ˈkoʊbi/ KOH-bee), also referred to as Explorer 66, was a NASA satellite dedicated to cosmology, which operated from 1989 to 1993. Its goals were to investigate the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB or CMBR) of the universe and provide measurements that would help shape the understanding of the cosmos.

COBE's measurements provided two key pieces of evidence that supported the Big Bang theory of the universe: that the CMB has a near-perfect black-body spectrum, and that it has very faint anisotropies. Two of COBE's principal investigators, George F. Smoot III and John C. Mather, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2006 for their work on the project. According to the Nobel Prize committee, "the COBE project can also be regarded as the starting point for cosmology as a precision science".^[4]

COBE was the second cosmic microwave background satellite, following RELIKT-1, and was followed by two more advanced spacecraft: the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) operated from 2001 to 2010 and the Planck spacecraft from 2009 to 2013.

References

^ "Delta 5000". Archived from the original on September 16, 2016.
^ Wade, Mark. "Delta". Archived from the original on 2008-07-24.
^ Krebs, Gunter. "Thor Family". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2021-12-21.
^ "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006". Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 26 December 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2011.

[1] "Delta 5000". Archived from the original on September 16, 2016.

[2] Wade, Mark. "Delta". Archived from the original on 2008-07-24.

[3] Krebs, Gunter. "Thor Family". Gunter's Space Page. Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved 2021-12-21.

[Cosmic_Background_Explorer_nobelprize2006-4] "The Nobel Prize in Physics 2006". Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. 3 October 2006. Archived from the original on 26 December 2025. Retrieved 23 August 2011.

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[2]

[3]

[4]

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 2^† 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 2 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 3^† Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2E 3
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Blue Whale 1 Cyclone-4M Deca Eclipse Epsilon S Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kinetica 2H 3 KSLV-III Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 Neutron New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Pallas-1 Red Dwarf RFA One SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R 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