Boeing Space Unit Set to Launch Latest Delta Rocket

Boeing Co.’s space unit (formerly McDonnell Douglas Space Systems) in Huntington Beach may finally get its new generation Delta rocket--the Delta III--off the ground this week.

The inaugural launch of the bigger, beefier Delta has been postponed four times now--for mechanical fine-tuning to fix mission-threatening glitches and, on Monday, because of Mother Nature. Hurricane Bonnie, it seems, got close enough to Cape Canaveral over the weekend to cause the Air Force to shut things down, said Boeing Delta program spokesman Walt Rice.

As the storm moves north, Boeing is hoping to launch the rocket Wednesday.

The Delta III carries a maximum payload of 8,500 pounds, and that’s what the first will be carrying--a 4.25-ton communications satellite. The previous generation Delta II could take only 4,200 pounds aloft, and in an effort to cut the cost per customer of a launch, most satellites packed two to three times that payload.

Boeing inherited the Delta program when it acquired McDonnell Douglas last year. The inaugural Delta III launch originally was scheduled for June.

The Delta program is Boeing’s bid to become a big player in the huge and growing global communications business. The company, which employs about 2,000 workers in the Delta program, including about 200 at program headquarters in Orange County, already is working on the Delta IV, which will be able to lift a 33,000-pound payload.

The satellite to be hoisted aloft is a 19-foot Galaxy X communications package valued at $250 million. After being deployed, it opens to a span of 86 feet to deliver broadcast signals for customers of a Connecticut satellite communications company.