The N-II or N-2 was a derivative of the American Delta rocket, produced under licence in Japan. It replaced the N-I-rocket in Japanese use. It used a Thor-ELT first stage, a Delta-F second stage, nine Castor SRMs, and on most flights either a Star-37E or Burner-2 upper stage, identical to the US Delta 0100 series configurations. Eight were launched between 1981 and 1987, before it was replaced by the H-I, which featured Japanese-produced upper stages. All eight launches were successful.
Launch history
Flight Date (UTC) Launch site Payload Orbit Outcome F7 11 February 198108:30 Tanegashima, Osaki ETS-IV GTO First flight of the N-II launch vehicle. Payload was ETS-IV (Engineering Test Satellite IV, nicknamed Kiku-3) F8 10 August 198120:03 Tanegashima, Osaki GMS-2 (Himawari-2) GTO F10 4 February 198308:37 Tanegashima, Osaki CS-2A (Sakura-2A) GTO F11 5 August 198320:29 Tanegashima, Osaki CS-2B (Sakura-2B) GTO F12 23 January 198407:58 Tanegashima, Osaki BS-2A (Yuri-2A) GTO F13 2 August 198420:30 Tanegashima, Osaki GMS-3 (Himawari-3) GTO F14 12 February 198607:55 Tanegashima, Osaki BS-2B (Yuri-2B) GTO F16 19 February 198701:23 Tanegashima, Osaki MOS-1 (Momo-1) LEO
See also Comparison of orbital launchers families Delta rocket H-I H-II H-IIA N-I rocket PGM-17 Thor
References