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Santa Ana, California: Boeing Delta III Freeway Rocket

Rocket visible from the I-5 advertises the nearby Discovery Science Center.

Address:
Mainplace Dr., Santa Ana, CA
Directions:
Just north of the Discovery Science Center. I-5 exit 106 (northbound) or 107B (southbound) onto the Garden Grove Fwy. Take the first exit (Main St.), turn right, and continue straight onto Mainplace Drive, which curves to the left. Rocket on right. Parking not free.
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Visitor Tips and News About Boeing Delta III Freeway Rocket

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Delta rocket.

Boeing Delta III Freeway Rocket

I'm a sucker for history and info of art, statues and so on, so I read all the info on this 2nd stage booster rocket on signs attached to the fence around it. The Delta III rocket was designed and engineered by Boeing in Orange county, and first launched in 1960. The nosecone carried a 4.5 ton orbital satellite.

[Monica McCormick, 04/04/2012]

Freeway rocket.

Boeing Delta III Freeway Rocket

Drive-by sighting from I-5 in Los Angeles: an incongruous modern ballistic missile, elevated for easy freeway viewing. It's a Delta III rocket, used to advertise the nearby Discovery Science Center. The rocket is an expendable commercial launch vehicle donated by Boeing to the museum. (The giant upended cube in front of the museum shelters another piece of spaceware, six-ton, 25-foot-tall Rocketdyne engine.)

In 1998, the first Delta III rocket exploded only minutes after launch from Cape Kennedy. This Delta III, however, is an empty hull -- no freeway fireball imminent. It seemed more menacing when the museum was called the Taco Bell Discovery Science Center.

[RoadsideAmerica.com Team, 12/30/2009]

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