The #Thor #Missile was the first operational #BallisticMissile of the United States.
As an Intermediate-Range Ballistic Missile, when stationed in Europe, it could deliver a nuclear warhead to Moscow.
The Thor also served as part of the Thor-#Able #space #launch #vehicle.
And the Thor components continued in the #Delta family of #rockets long after the missile’s retirement.
The two truss towers on either side of the white rocket are the service structures for the #DeltaII, the last legacy of the #Thor family.
After the Delta II was retired, both towers where demolished in 2018 to prevent an uncontrolled collapse due to corrosion.
#ThorFamily, #DeltaThorFamily, #ThorRocket, #ThorAbleRocket, #LC17A, #LC17B, #AirForceSpaceAndMissileMuseum, #CapeCanaveral, #Photography, #Photo
Buy a print: https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/thor-able-and-slc-17a-and-b-heron-and-fox.html

A #photograph of the last #DeltaII #rocket, produced by #Boeing and finally #launched by the United Launch Alliance or #ULA, was given to the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex #KSC #rocketgarden.
The #Delta II is painted in a #sharknose livery it never flew in, along with the #US flag, #NASA emblem, and the Delta family’s signature #triangle and a #star for each successful #launch (153 of 155).
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/delta-ii-at-the-rocket-garden-3-heron-and-fox.html

During a tour of #NASA’s Kennedy Space Center #KSC, #journalists and #photographers were brought to a room to be shown some hardware. It was completely ignored in favor of the #restored S-3D #rocket #engine. The presentation was derailed, much to the chagrin of NASA’s Press Office.
But really, it was their fault. They basically brought a bunch of magpies into a room with something shiny. What did they expect to happen? For us not to gawk at the #shiny #rocket #engine?
And then they didn’t even tell us anything about it. They just gave their presentation while glaring at the magpies they willfully brought into a room with a rocket engine in the corner.
The S-3D is an #ancestor of many engines. It powered the #Atlas rocket until the Atlas III, the #Saturn I & IB, the #Thor missile/#SLV, and became the #Rocketdyne RS-27 on the #Delta and #DeltaII #rockets.
https://heronfox.pixels.com/featured/restored-s-3d-rocket-engine-3-heron-and-fox.html