CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Lockheed Martin this week completed building the nation's final two Titan 4 launch vehicles.
The milestone was marked Thursday at the company's Denver factory as company officials reflected on the Titan program, which during the past four decades became synonymous with both space exploration and national defense.
"It is sad to see this amazing rocket system approach the final phase of its service," said G. Thomas Marsh, president and general manager of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Astronautics Operations.
Beginning with its first test flight in February 1959, the Titan program's long string of more than 350 launches is expected to end in 2003 with the West Coast launch of a classified satellite atop one of the Titan 4 core stages rolled out Thursday in Denver.
"It is almost impossible to put into words the sense of pride that each one of us feels about the Titan program, what it has meant to all of us at Lockheed Martin, and the critical role it continues to serve for the U.S Air Force and our nation," Marsh said.
Altogether there are eight more Titan missions scheduled for blast off at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Five are to be Titan 4s and three Titan 2s.
"Today's event represents the end of an era. But that does not mean it is the end of the extraordinary relationship we have with the Lockheed Martin team," said Air Force Col. Mike Dunn, director of launch programs for the Space and Missile Systems Center. "We still have missions to complete and other programs to think about."For Lockheed Martin, the end of the Titan era will overlap the start of operating the Atlas 5, a booster developed as part of the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle and based on lessons learned from the Titan family of boosters.
"It is extremely gratifying to know that many of (Titan's) capabilities have been incorporated into our next-generation launch vehicle, the Atlas 5," Marsh said. "And there is no question in my mind that the Atlas will continue to be America's most successful launch vehicle for the future."
First developed as an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Titan 1 was placed into service in 1962. It was soon replaced by an upgraded version with greater range and lifting capacity, the Titan 2.
NASA recognized the missile's capability and used a modified version of the Titan 2 to launch its two-man Gemini spacecraft. Ten manned Gemini missions were launched during 1965 and 1966, developing the techniques required for the Apollo Moon program.
Titan missiles remained on strategic alert for 25 years until the last one was decommissioned in 1987. Fourteen of the retired Titan 2 missiles were refurbished for use as space launch vehicles, mostly sending military and civilian weather satellites into polar orbit from California.
The Air Force continued to upgrade the Titans capacity by adding a pair of solid rocket boosters. Named the Titan 3 -- with variants that included a small number of Commercial Titan's -- this heavy-lift vehicle launched a wide range of military and intelligence spacecraft for more than 20 years.
During the mid-1970s NASA also used the Titan 3 -- equipped with a Centaur upper stage -- to launch a pair of Viking Mars landing missions, as well as the twin Voyager spacecraft to explore the outer planets.
Next came the Titan 4, which was designed and built as a means of "Assured Access to Space" for the heaviest national security spacecraft -- satellites so large they were effectively grounded after the 1986 Challenger disaster. Its first launch was in 1989.
Capable of lifting more than 47,000 pounds (21,319 kilograms) into Earth orbit, the Titan 4 was also the most costly rocket ever constructed, with some custom-built models going for more than $400 million each.
"The bottom line is, when it comes down to it, Lockheed Martin has performed a mission critical service for the war fighter in the field and every American citizen," Dunn said.
Now Lockheed Martin is phasing out the Titan 4 in favor of the state-of-the-art Atlas 5, designed to launch all but the largest Titan-class spacecraft.
The Atlas 5 will be launched using a "clean pad" concept, meaning the rocket will be prepared for launch in an enclosed facility and rolled out to the launch pad only 12 hours before it's time to fly.
Its maiden launch from Cape Canaveral is targeted for mid-July.
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