List of Delta IV Heavy launches

The Delta IV Heavy (Delta 9250H) was an expendable heavy-lift launch vehicle. When it was in service from 2004 to 2024, it was the largest type in the Delta IV family and was the world's second highest-capacity rocket in operation, behind SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket and closely followed by CNSA's Long March 5 rocket.^[1]^[2] It was manufactured by United Launch Alliance and was first launched in December 2004 and was retired after its last flight on 9th April 2024.^[3]

Launch statistics[edit]

1

2004

2010

2015

2020

Partial Failure
Success

Launch history[edit]


Flight	Date	Payload ^[4]	Mass	Launch site	Outcome ^[4]
1	21 December 2004	DemoSat, Sparkie / 3CS-1 and Ralphie / 3CS-2	~13,228 pounds (6000 kilograms)	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Partial failure^[a]
2	11 November 2007	DSP-23 Defense Support Program	11,574 pounds (5,250 kilograms)	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
3	18 January 2009	Orion 6 / Mentor 4 (USA-202 / NROL-26)	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
4	21 November 2010	Orion 7 / Mentor 5 (USA-223 / NROL-32)	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
5	20 January 2011	KH-11 Kennen 15 (USA-224 / NROL-49)	<37,479 pounds (17,000 kilograms)	Vandenberg, SLC-6	Success
6	29 June 2012	Orion 8 / Mentor 6 (USA-237 / NROL-15)	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
7	26 August 2013	KH-11 Kennen 16 (USA-245 / NROL-65)	<37,479 pounds (17,000 kilograms)	Vandenberg, SLC-6	Success
8	5 December 2014	Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1)	46,297 pounds (21,000 kilograms) ^[5]^[b]	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
9	11 June 2016	Orion 9 / Mentor 7 (USA-268 / NROL-37)	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
10	12 August 2018	Parker Solar Probe^[c]	1,510 pounds (685 kilograms)	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
11	19 January 2019	NROL-71	Classified	Vandenberg, SLC-6	Success
12	11 December 2020	Orion 10 / Mentor 8 (USA-268/ NROL-44)^[6]^[7]	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
13	26 April 2021	KH-11 Kennen 17 (NROL-82)	Classified	Vandenberg, SLC-6	Success
14	24 September 2022	KH-11 Kennen 18 (NROL-91)	Classified	Vandenberg, SLC-6	Success
15	22 June 2023	Orion 11 / Mentor 9 (NROL-68)^[8]	Classified	Cape Canaveral, SLC-37B	Success
16	9 April 2024	Orion 12 / Mentor 10 (NROL-70)	Classified	CCSFS, SLC-37B	Success

Notes[edit]

^ CBCs underperformed, lower orbit than planned
^ The officially reported mass of 21,000 kg includes the Launch Abort System (LAS) which did not reach orbit, but excludes the residual mass of the upper stage, which did reach orbit, likely offsetting the mass of the LAS.
^ Star 48BV upper stage

References[edit]

^ "Mission Status Center". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 26 July 2014. The ULA Delta 4-Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable, proven, heavy lift capability for our country's national security payloads from both the east and west coasts.
^ Chang, Kenneth (6 February 2018). "Falcon Heavy, SpaceX's Big New Rocket, Succeeds in Its First Test Launch". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2018. The Falcon Heavy is capable of lifting 140,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit, more than any other rocket today.
^ "Boeing Delta IV Heavy Achieves Major Test Objectives in First Flight" Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Boeing, 2004, accessed 22 March 2012
^ ^a ^b Krebs, Gunter. "Delta-4". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 15 March 2018.
^ "NASA Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 PRESS KIT" (PDF). NASA. December 2014. p. 12. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.
^ "Launch Mission Execution Forecast". 45th Weather Squadron - Patrick Air Force Base. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
^ Clark, Stephen (22 June 2023). "Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifts off with NRO spy satellite". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

[5] CBCs underperformed, lower orbit than planned

[Orion_EFT-1-7] The officially reported mass of 21,000 kg includes the Launch Abort System (LAS) which did not reach orbit, but excludes the residual mass of the upper stage, which did reach orbit, likely offsetting the mass of the LAS.

[8] Star 48BV upper stage

[1] "Mission Status Center". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 26 July 2014. The ULA Delta 4-Heavy is currently the world's largest rocket, providing the nation with reliable, proven, heavy lift capability for our country's national security payloads from both the east and west coasts.

[2] Chang, Kenneth (6 February 2018). "Falcon Heavy, SpaceX's Big New Rocket, Succeeds in Its First Test Launch". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 February 2018. The Falcon Heavy is capable of lifting 140,000 pounds to low-Earth orbit, more than any other rocket today.

[3] "Boeing Delta IV Heavy Achieves Major Test Objectives in First Flight" Archived 19 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine Boeing, 2004, accessed 22 March 2012

[Gunter's_Space_Page-4] Krebs, Gunter. "Delta-4". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 15 March 2018.

[EFT1_press_kit-6] "NASA Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 PRESS KIT" (PDF). NASA. December 2014. p. 12. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[SFN20201027-9] "Launch Schedule". Spaceflight Now. 27 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020.

[45th_Weather_Squadron-10] "Launch Mission Execution Forecast". 45th Weather Squadron - Patrick Air Force Base. 30 October 2020. Retrieved 31 October 2020. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.

[sfn-20230622-11] Clark, Stephen (22 June 2023). "Delta 4-Heavy rocket lifts off with NRO spy satellite". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 27 June 2023.

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v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 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 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega original C Vulcan Centaur Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Ariane 6 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 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-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 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 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 VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG Zhuque 1^†
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 Pegasus XL RS1^† SLS Block 1 Starship Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona Firefly Beta New Glenn Neutron Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 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 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 ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage