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Boeing Fires Up Engine for Delta IV Debut

DAC160276 -- First Flight Delta 4 Engine Test-Fire.
Photo by Thom Baur © The Boeing Company

ST. LOUIS, October 14, 2002The Boeing Company completed a critical hot-fire rehearsal today at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The test sets the stage for the first flight of the Boeing Delta IV powered by the first U.S.-designed and built liquid-fueled rocket engine certified for flight in a generation.

The test firing of the Delta IV first stage propulsion system — the Boeing Rocketdyne RS-68 engine — was an integral part of a second launch dress rehearsal designed to help ensure the success of the rocket’s first flight — currently scheduled for mid-November. It was also the last major Delta IV development milestone for the rocket that was built by Boeing Integrated Defense Systems, a business unit of The Boeing Company.

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