Delta IV Heavy inaugural launch

The first flight of a Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle featuring 3 CBCs or Common Booster Cores, each powered with a single, cryogenic RS-68 engine. The launch, which occured in December 2004 was a partial failure when (due to cavitation in CBC propellant lines) sensors incorrectly detected propellant depletion and shut down the engines several seconds prematurely. The upper stage wasn’t able to compensate completely and the demo payload was left in a lower than planned orbit.