HomeBreakup eventsDelta 1 second stage (1976)

EXPLOSION · 1976-07-29

Delta 1 second stage (1976)

A 1976 Delta second stage broke up at ~1,500 km from trapped propellant, adding to the family of Delta upper-stage explosions. Its fragments sit high enough that they will remain on orbit for centuries.

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Opens Space Junk View, hides everything else, and frames the surviving tracked fragments of Delta 1 second stage (1976) as they orbit.

Why it matters

Breakup events like this are why low Earth orbit is now crowded with debris. Space Junk View tracks all 31,328 cataloged objects — including roughly 10,229 pieces of debris — and lets you isolate a single event's fragment cloud to see exactly where its wreckage went. See the full breakup-events hub and our space-debris statistics.

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