ULA Set to Launch Last Single-Stick Delta IV Thursday with ‘Magellan’ GPS III Satellite

For the final time on Thursday, a “single-stick” ULA Delta IV Medium rocket will roar to space, this time with the GPS III ‘Magellan’ satellite for the U.S. Air Force, ending a career which has delivered a smorgasbord of military, civilian & scientific payloads to space over the course of a spectacular 17-year history. Photo Credit: Alan Walters / AmericaSpace

For the final time on Thursday, a “single-stick” Delta IV Medium booster will roar aloft from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., to transport a critical payload safely into orbit. It will be the 40th flight by a member of this venerable orange-and-white rocket family since November 2002 and the 15th outing in its “Medium+ (4,2)” configuration—characterized by a 13-foot-wide (4-meter) payload fairing and the presence of two solid-fueled Graphite Epoxy Motors (GEM)-60—and promises to put on quite a show for the Space Coast.

Launch is scheduled to occur during a 27-minute “window”, which opens at 9 a.m. EDT. Onboard is the mighty Delta IV is the second Block III Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite, flying only a matter of months since SpaceX delivered GPS Block III-01 smoothly to orbit in October 2018.

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