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Rocket file · LV-400

Thor Delta B

McDonnell Douglas · Thor · RETIRED

Thor Delta B is an expendable launch vehicle built by McDonnell Douglas. It stands 31.0 m tall, lifts 370 kg to low Earth orbit, first flew on 13 December 1962. It has flown 9 times with 8 successes, a success rate of 88.9%. It has nothing on the Launch Library 2 schedule right now.

Specification

Vehicle spec sheet

ON FILE
Height31.0 m
Diameter2.4 m
Payload to LEO370 kg
Payload to GTO68 kg
Maiden flight13 December 1962
ReusableNo, expendable
Launch cost$9.6M
StatusRETIRED

As listed by Launch Library 2. The cost is Launch Library’s figure, not a quoted price. Figures for rockets outside the sixty most-flown were last read on 2026-11-05.

Flight record

Reliability

ON RECORD
Total flights9
Successful8
Failed1
Success rate88.9%
Landing attempts0
Landing successN/A
Scheduled0
VariantDelta B

About Thor Delta B

American orbital launch vehicle family with Thor first stage and a delta second stage.

Upcoming flights

Manifest

EMPTY

Thor Delta B is retired, and no flight is filed.

All upcoming launches

From NASA's public image library and Wikimedia Commons. Each photo shows the credit its licence asks for and links back to where it came from.

Thor XLT first stage of an Delta II 7925 rocket
Thor XLT first stage of an Delta II 7925 rocketNASA/George Shelton · public domainWikimedia Commons ↗
Tail of an Thor XLT Stage with the RS-27 A engine
Tail of an Thor XLT Stage with the RS-27 A engineNASA/George Shelton · public domainWikimedia Commons ↗
MetroBrussel Delta B
MetroBrussel Delta BWouter Hagens · public domainWikimedia Commons ↗

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Common questions

How many times has Thor Delta B flown?
9 times, with 8 successes and 1 failures.
What is Thor Delta B's success rate?
88.9%. That's 8 successful flights out of 9 attempts.
How much can Thor Delta B lift to orbit?
Launch Library 2 lists Thor Delta B at 370 kg to low Earth orbit and 68 kg to geostationary transfer orbit.
Is Thor Delta B reusable?
No. Launch Library 2 lists Thor Delta B as expendable, so no stage is recovered to fly again.