Aerojet recognizes the U.S. Air Force, NASA, United Launch Alliance, Boeing and industry partners on the 20th anniversary of the Delta II rocket's inaugural launch.

Aerojet, under contract to the United Launch Alliance, provides the Delta II rocket's second stage liquid engine. The recent NOAA-N Prime satellite launch on Feb. 6 marks the latest Delta II success.

Other notable Delta II missions include critical NASA missions such as the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity, MESSENGER, Phoenix Mars Lander, GLAST, THEMIS, STEREO, Deep Impact and the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) spacecraft, as well as the USAF Global Positioning System (GPS) Block IIR fleet and several missions for the National Reconnaissance Office.

On this 20th anniversary of the first Delta II launch on Feb. 14, 1989, present-day Delta II missions launch from the Space Launch Complex (SLC) 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. and Space Launch Complex (SLC) 2 at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

The Delta II has launched successfully 138 times during the past two decades making it the clear launch vehicle leader in the medium class market.

"We are proud to have supported Delta II missions throughout the last 20 years. In fact, we celebrated our 268th Delta launch last week with the NOAA-N Prime satellite mission," says Richard Yanick, director of Delta II and Space Tank Production Programs.