English: Nimbus E, the sixth spacecraft in the Nimbus series, is shown preparing for launch on December 12, 1972 from the Western TestRange (WTR), Space Launch Complex SLC-2, West, by the Thrust-Augmented Delta vehicle. The satellite was placed in an1100-kilometer run-synchronous nearly circular polar orbit. Thespacecraft was designated Nimbus 5 upon confirmation that it hadachieved successful orbit. The Delta launch vehicle family started development in 1959. The Delta is composed of partsfrom the Thor, an intermediate-range ballistic missile, as itsfirst stage, and the Vanguard as its second. The first Delta waslaunched from Cape Canaveral on May 13, 1960 and was powerful enough to deliver a 100-pound spacecraft into geostationary transfer orbit. Delta has been used to launch civil, commercial,and military satellites into orbit. For more information about Delta, please see Chapter 3 in Roger Launius and Dennis Jenkins'book To Reach the High Frontier published by The UniversityPress of Kentucky in 2002.