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Titan was a family of United States
expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...
rocket A rocket (from , and so named for its shape) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using any surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely ...
s used between 1959 and 2005. The Titan I and
Titan II The Titan II was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the Glenn L. Martin Company from the earlier Titan I missile. Titan II was originally designed and used as an ICBM, but was later adapted as a medium-lift space ...
were part of the
US Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
's
intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
(ICBM) fleet until 1987. The space launch vehicle versions contributed the majority of the 368 Titan launches, including all the
Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
crewed flights of the mid-1960s. Titan vehicles were also used to lift US military payloads as well as civilian agency
reconnaissance satellite A reconnaissance satellite or intelligence satellite (commonly, although unofficially, referred to as a spy satellite) is an Earth observation satellite or communications satellite deployed for military or intelligence applications. The ...
s and to send interplanetary scientific probes throughout the Solar System.


Titan I missile

The HGM-25A Titan I, built by the Martin Company, was the first version of the Titan family of rockets. It began as a backup ICBM project in case the
SM-65 Atlas The SM-65 Atlas was the first operational intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) developed by the United States and the first member of the Atlas rocket family. It was built for the U.S. Air Force by the Convair Division of General ...
was delayed. It was a two-stage rocket operational from early 1962 to mid-1965 whose LR-87 booster engine was powered by
RP-1 RP-1 (Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) and similar fuels like RG-1 and T-1 are highly refined kerosene formulations used as rocket fuel. Liquid-fueled rockets that use RP-1 as fuel are known as kerolox rockets. In their engines, RP- ...
(kerosene) and
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
(LOX). The ground guidance for the Titan was the
UNIVAC UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer) was a line of electronic digital stored-program computers starting with the products of the Eckert–Mauchly Computer Corporation. Later the name was applied to a division of the Remington Rand company and ...
ATHENA computer Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarded as the patron and protectress o ...
, designed by
Seymour Cray Seymour Roger Cray (September 28, 1925 – October 5, 1996)
was an American
RV tests, as all support infrastructure for the missile had been converted to the Titan II/III family by 1965.


Titan II


Titan II missile

Most of the Titan rockets were the Titan II ICBM and their civilian derivatives for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
. The Titan II used the LR-87-5 engine, a modified version of the LR-87, that used a
hypergolic propellant A hypergolic propellant is a rocket propellant combination used in a rocket engine, whose components spontaneously ignite when they come into contact with each other. The two propellant components usually consist of a fuel and an oxidizer. The ...
combination of
nitrogen tetroxide Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and occasionally (usually among ex-USSR/Russian rocket engineers) as amyl, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium ...
(NTO) for its oxidizer and
Aerozine 50 __NOTOC__ Aerozine 50 is a 50:50 mix by weight of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), developed in the late 1950s by Aerojet General Corporation as a storable, high-energy, hypergolic fuel for the Titan II ICBM rocket engines ...
(a 50/50 mix of
hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly hazardous unless handled in solution as, for example, hydraz ...
and
unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (abbreviated as UDMH; also known as 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, heptyl or Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is primarily used as a rocket propellant. At room temperature, UDMH is a colorle ...
(UDMH) instead of the liquid oxygen and RP-1 propellant of the Titan I. The first Titan II guidance system was built by AC Spark Plug. It used an
inertial measurement unit An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the Orientation (geometry), orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, an ...
made by AC Spark Plug derived from original designs from the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory at MIT. The missile guidance computer (MGC) was the IBM ASC-15. When spares for this system became hard to obtain, it was replaced by a more modern guidance system, the
Delco Electronics Delco Electronics Corporation was the automotive electronics design and manufacturing subsidiary of General Motors based in Kokomo, Indiana, that manufactured ''Delco'' Automobile radios and other electric products found in GM cars. In 1972, Gen ...
Universal Space Guidance System (USGS). The USGS used a Carousel IV IMU and a Magic 352 computer. The USGS was already in use on the Titan III space launcher when work began in March 1978 to replace the Titan II guidance system. The main reason was to reduce the cost of maintenance by $72 million per year; the conversions were completed in 1981.


Hypergolic propellants

Liquid oxygen is dangerous to use in an enclosed space, such as a
missile silo A missile launch facility, also known as an underground missile silo, launch facility (LF), or nuclear silo, is a vertical cylindrical structure constructed underground, for the storage and launching of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM ...
, and cannot be stored for long periods in the booster oxidizer tank. Several Atlas and Titan I rockets exploded and destroyed their silos, although without loss of life. The Martin Company was able to improve the design with the Titan II. The RP-1/LOX combination was replaced by a room-temperature fuel whose oxidizer did not require
cryogenic In physics, cryogenics is the production and behaviour of materials at very low temperatures. The 13th International Institute of Refrigeration's (IIR) International Congress of Refrigeration (held in Washington, DC in 1971) endorsed a univers ...
storage. The same first-stage rocket engine was used with some modifications. The diameter of the second stage was increased to match the first stage. The Titan II's hypergolic fuel and oxidizer ignited on contact, but they were highly toxic and corrosive liquids. The fuel was
Aerozine 50 __NOTOC__ Aerozine 50 is a 50:50 mix by weight of hydrazine and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH), developed in the late 1950s by Aerojet General Corporation as a storable, high-energy, hypergolic fuel for the Titan II ICBM rocket engines ...
, a 50/50 mix of hydrazine and UDMH, and the oxidizer was NTO.


Accidents at silos

There were several accidents in Titan II silos resulting in loss of life and/or serious injuries. In August 1965, 53 construction workers were killed in fire in a missile silo northwest of
Searcy, Arkansas Searcy ( ) is the largest city in and the county seat of White County, Arkansas, United States. According to 2019 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 23,767. It is the principal city of the Searcy, AR Micropolitan Statisti ...
. The fire started when hydraulic fluid used in the Titan II was ignited by a welding torch. The liquid fuel missiles were prone to developing leaks of their toxic propellants. At a silo outside
Rock, Kansas Rock is a census-designated place (CDP) in Cowley County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 94. History 19th century The post office was established on August 12, 1870. In 1877, the Florence, El Dorado, and ...
, an oxidizer transfer line carrying NTO ruptured on August 24, 1978. An ensuing orange vapor cloud forced 200 rural residents to evacuate the area. A staff sergeant of the maintenance crew was killed while attempting a rescue and a total of twenty were hospitalized. Another site at Potwin, Kansas leaked NTO oxidizer in April 1980 with no fatalities, and was later closed. In September 1980, at Titan II silo 374-7 near Damascus, Arkansas, a technician dropped an socket that fell , bounced off a thrust mount, and broke the skin of the missile's first stage, over eight hours prior to an eventual explosion. The puncture occurred about 6:30 p.m. and when a leak was detected shortly after, the silo was flooded with water and civilian authorities were advised to evacuate the area. As the problem was being attended to at around 3 a.m., leaking rocket fuel ignited and blew the nuclear warhead out of the silo. It landed harmlessly several hundred feet away. There was one fatality and 21 were injured, all from the emergency response team from Little Rock AFB. The explosion blew the 740-ton launch tube cover into the air and left a
crater A crater is a landform consisting of a hole or depression (geology), depression on a planetary surface, usually caused either by an object hitting the surface, or by geological activity on the planet. A crater has classically been described ...
in diameter.


Missile retirement

The 54 Titan IIs in Arizona, Arkansas, and Kansas were replaced by 50 MX "Peacekeeper"
solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder. The incepti ...
missiles in the mid-1980s; the last Titan II silo was deactivated in May 1987. The 54 Titan IIs had been fielded along with a thousand Minuteman missiles from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. A number of Titan I and Titan II missiles have been distributed as museum displays across the United States.


Titan II launch vehicle

The most famous use of the civilian Titan II was in the NASA
Gemini program Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
of crewed space capsules in the mid-1960s. Twelve Titan II GLVs were used for
Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...
. Two flights were uncrewed and the remaining ten carried two-person crews. All of the launches were successful.


Titan 23G

Starting in the late 1980s, some of the deactivated Titan IIs were converted into space
launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...
s to be used for launching U.S. Government payloads. Titan 23G rockets consisted of two stages burning liquid propellant. The first stage was powered by one
Aerojet Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp, ...
LR87 engine with two combustion chambers and nozzles, and the second stage was propelled by an LR91. On some flights, the spacecraft included a kick motor, usually the Star-37XFP-ISS; however, the Star-37S was also used. Thirteen were launched from Space Launch Complex 4W (SLC-4W) at
Vandenberg Air Force Base Vandenberg may refer to: * Vandenberg (surname), including a list of people with the name * USNS ''General Hoyt S. Vandenberg'' (T-AGM-10), transport ship in the United States Navy, sank as an artificial reef in Key West, Florida * Vandenberg S ...
starting in 1988. The final such vehicle launched a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) weather satellite on 18 October 2003.


Gallery

File:Titan II launch.jpg, Titan II ICBM File:Gemini-Titan 11 Launch - GPN-2000-001020.jpg, Titan II GLV File:Titan 23G rocket.gif, Titan 23G


Titan III

The Titan III was a modified Titan II with optional
solid rocket booster A solid rocket booster (SRB) is a solid propellant motor used to provide thrust in spacecraft launches from initial launch through the first ascent. Many launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, SLS and Space Shuttle, have used SRBs to give laun ...
s. It was developed on behalf of the
United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
(USAF) as a heavy-lift satellite launcher to be used mainly to launch American military payloads and civilian intelligence agency satellites such as the Vela Hotel nuclear-test-ban monitoring satellites, observation and reconnaissance satellites (for intelligence-gathering), and various series of defense communications satellites. As USAF project, Titan III was more formally known as Program 624A (SSLS), Standard Space Launch System, Standardized Space Launch System, Standardized Space Launching System or Standard Space Launching System (all abbreviated SSLS). The Titan III core was similar to the Titan II, but had a few differences. These included: *Thicker tank walls and ablative skirts to support the added weight of upper stages *Radio ground guidance in place of the inertial guidance on ICBM Titan IIs *Guidance package placed on the upper stages (if present) *Removal of retrorockets and other unnecessary ICBM hardware *Slightly larger propellant tanks in the second stage for longer burn time; since they expanded into some unused space in the avionics truss, the actual length of the stage remained unchanged. The Titan III family used the same basic LR-87 engines as Titan II (with performance enhancements over the years), however SRB-equipped variants had a heat shield over them as protection from the SRB exhaust and the engines were modified for air-starting.


Avionics

The first guidance system for the Titan III used the AC Spark Plug company IMU (inertial measurement unit) and an IBM ASC-15 guidance computer from the Titan II. For the Titan III, the ASC-15 drum memory of the computer was lengthened to add 20 more usable tracks, which increased its memory capacity by 35%. The more-advanced Titan IIIC used a Delco Carousel VB IMU and MAGIC 352 Missile Guidance Computer (MGC).


Titan IIIA

The Titan IIIA was a prototype rocket booster and consisted of a standard Titan II rocket with a
Transtage Transtage, given the United States Air Force designation SSB-10A, was an American upper stage used on Titan III rockets, developed by Martin Marietta and Aerojet. History Transtage was developed in anticipation of a requirement to launch milita ...
upper stage.


Titan IIIB

The Titan IIIB with its different versions (23B, 24B, 33B, and 34B) had the Titan III core booster with an Agena D upper stage. This combination was used to launch the KH-8 GAMBIT series of intelligence-gathering satellites. They were all launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, due south over the Pacific into
polar orbit A polar orbit is one in which a satellite passes above or nearly above both poles of the body being orbited (usually a planet such as the Earth, but possibly another body such as the Moon or Sun) on each revolution. It has an inclination of abo ...
s. Their maximum payload mass was about 7,500 lb (3,000 kg).


Titan IIIC

The powerful Titan IIIC used a Titan III core rocket with two large strap-on solid-fuel boosters to increase its launch thrust and maximum payload mass. The solid-fuel boosters that were developed for the Titan IIIC represented a significant engineering advance over previous solid-fueled rockets, due to their large size and thrust, and their advanced thrust-vector control systems.


Titan IIID

The Titan IIID was the Vandenberg Air Force Base version of the Titan IIIC, without a Transtage, that was used to place members of the
Key Hole Key Hole (KH) is the designation for a series of United States, American optical Spy satellite, reconnaissance satellites: * KH-1 Corona (satellite), Corona * KH-2 Corona (satellite), Corona * KH-3 Corona (satellite), Corona * KH-4 Corona (satellit ...
series of reconnaissance satellites into polar
low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
s.


Titan IIIE

The Titan IIIE, with a high- specific-impulse
Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
upper stage, was used to launch several scientific spacecraft, including both of NASA's two Voyager space probes to Jupiter, Saturn and beyond, and both of the two
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9� ...
missions to place two orbiters around Mars and two instrumented landers on its surface.


Titan 34D

The Titan 34D featured Stage 1 and Stage 2 stretched with more powerful UA1206 solid motors. A variety of upper stages were available, including the
Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a Multistage rocket, two-stage, Solid-propellant rocket, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for ...
, the Transfer Orbit Stage, and the
Transtage Transtage, given the United States Air Force designation SSB-10A, was an American upper stage used on Titan III rockets, developed by Martin Marietta and Aerojet. History Transtage was developed in anticipation of a requirement to launch milita ...
. The Titan 34D made its maiden flight in the year of 1982 on the 30th of October with two DSCS defense
communications satellite A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a Transponder (satellite communications), transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a Rad ...
s for the United States
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
(DOD).


Commercial Titan III

Derived from the Titan 34D and originally proposed as a medium-lift expendable launch system for the US Air Force, who selected the Delta II instead. Development was continued as a commercial launch system, and the first rocket flew in 1990. The Commercial Titan III differed from the Titan 34D in that it had a stretched second stage, and a larger payload fairing to accommodate dual satellite payloads.


Titan IIIM

The Titan IIIM was intended to launch the Manned Orbiting Laboratory and other payloads. Development was cancelled in 1969. The projected UA1207 solid booster rockets were eventually used on the Titan IV.


Gallery

File:Titan IIIA.jpg, Titan IIIA File:Titan 23B.jpg, Titan 23B File:DF-SC-84-05192 cropped.jpeg, Titan IIIC File:Titan IIID rocket.jpg, Titan IIID File:Titan 3E Centaur launches Voyager 2.jpg, Titan IIIE File:DF-SC-83-03173 cropped.jpeg, Titan 34D File:Commercial Titan 3 launching Mars Observer.jpg, Commercial Titan 3


Titan IV

The Titan IV was an extended length Titan III with solid rocket boosters on its sides. The Titan IV could be launched with a
Centaur A centaur ( ; ; ), occasionally hippocentaur, also called Ixionidae (), is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse that was said to live in the mountains of Thessaly. In one version o ...
upper stage, the USAF
Inertial Upper Stage The Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), originally designated the Interim Upper Stage, was a Multistage rocket, two-stage, Solid-propellant rocket, solid-fueled space launch system developed by Boeing for the United States Air Force beginning in 1976 for ...
(IUS), or no upper stage at all. This rocket was used almost exclusively to launch US military or Central Intelligence Agency payloads. However, it was also used for a purely scientific purpose to launch the NASA–ESA Cassini / Huygens space probe to
Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant, with an average radius of about 9 times that of Earth. It has an eighth the average density of Earth, but is over 95 tim ...
in 1997. The primary intelligence agency that needed the Titan IV's launch capabilities was the
National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...
(NRO). When it was being produced, the Titan IV was the most powerful uncrewed rocket available to the United States, with proportionally high manufacturing and operations expenses. By the time the Titan IV became operational, the requirements of the
Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...
and the NRO for launching satellites had tapered off due to improvements in the longevity of reconnaissance satellites and the declining demand for reconnaissance that followed the internal disintegration of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. As a result of these events and improvements in technology, the unit cost of a Titan IV launch was very high. Additional expenses were generated by the ground operations and facilities for the Titan IV at Vandenberg Air Force Base for launching satellites into polar orbits. Titan IVs were also launched from the
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...
in Florida, a location often used for launch into non-polar orbits. File:First TITAN IV launch from Complex 41 - 14 June 1989.jpg, Titan IV-A File:Titan IVB Centaur launching ELINTspy satellite.jpg, Titan IV-B


Titan V concept

The Titan V was a proposed development of the Titan IV, that saw several designs being suggested. One Titan V proposal was for an enlarged Titan IV, capable of lifting up to of payload. Another used a cryogenic first stage with LOX/LH2 propellants; however the
Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...
EELV was selected for production instead.


Launch vehicle retirement

Most of the decommissioned Titan II ICBMs were refurbished and used for Air Force space launch vehicles, with a perfect launch success record. For orbital launches, there were strong advantages to using higher-performance
liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen () is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecule, molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point (thermodynamics), critical point of 33 Kelvins, ...
or RP-1 fueled vehicles with
liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen, sometimes abbreviated as LOX or LOXygen, is a clear cyan liquid form of dioxygen . It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an application which is ongoing. Physical ...
; the high cost of using hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide, along with the special care that was needed due to their toxicity, were a further consideration.
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...
decided to extend its
Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...
family of rockets instead of its more expensive Titans, along with participating in joint-ventures to sell launches on the Russian
Proton rocket Proton (, formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are still in use , making it ...
and the new
Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...
-built
Delta IV Delta IV was a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family. It flew 45 missions from 2002 to 2024. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) p ...
class of medium and heavy-lift launch vehicles. The Titan IVB was the last Titan rocket to remain in service, making its penultimate launch from Cape Canaveral on 30 April 2005, followed by its final launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 19 October 2005, carrying the USA-186 optical imaging satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office.


See also

* Titan Missile Museum * List of Titan launches *
Comparison of orbital launchers families This article compares different orbital launcher families (launchers which are significantly different from other members of the same 'family' have separate entries). The article is organized into two tables: the first contains a list of currentl ...
*
Comparison of orbital launch systems This comparison of orbital launch systems lists the attributes of all current and future individual rocket configurations designed to reach orbit. A first list contains rockets that are operational or have attempted an orbital flight attempt as o ...
* Titan site 374-7 explosion


Notes


References

* Bonds, Ray Editor. ''The Modern US War Machine: An encyclopedia of American military equipment and strategy.'' Crown Publishers, New York City 1989. * USAF Sheppard Technical Training Center. "Student Study Guide, Missile Launch/Missile Officer (LGM-25)." May 1967. pp. 61–65. Available at WikiMedia Commons: TitanII MGC.pdf * Larson, Paul O. "Titan III Inertial Guidance System," in AIAA Second Annual Meeting, San Francisco, 26–29 July 1965, pp. 1–11. * Liang, A.C. and Kleinbub, D.L. "Navigation of the Titan IIIC space launch vehicle using the Carousel VB IMU". AIAA Guidance and Control Conference, Key Biscayne, FL, 20–22 August 1973. AIAA Paper No. 73-905. * Stumpf, David K. ''Titan II: A History of a Cold War Missile Program.'' The University of Arkansas Press, 2000.


External links


Titan history
at astronautix.com – includes chronology of launches and variants
Footage of November 1963 launch of Titan II
at archive.org (b/w; 0m59s; includes early use of 'rocket cam' technology) * (color; 13m33s)

at fas.org (
Federation of American Scientists The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) is an American nonprofit global policy think tank with the stated intent of using science and scientific analysis to attempt to make the world more secure. FAS was founded in 1945 by a group of scient ...
)
Titan II
at fas.org

at fas.org
Explosion at 374-7
– Details of the September 1980 Arkansas silo explosion

at the APOD archive {{DEFAULTSORT:Titan (Rocket Family) Rocket families Intercontinental ballistic missiles of the United States Cold War weapons of the United States Nuclear weapons of the United States Military space program of the United States NASA space launch vehicles Lockheed Martin space launch vehicles