As a result, the nation's top military brass was closely watching this flight, but the 3rd Launch Squadron of the 45th Space Wing, responsible for Titan launch operations at the Cape, had no problem this time in showing off for the generals.
"The Ragin' Cajun roared off the pad, marking the return of Titan operations here," Air Force Titan launch director Lt. Col. Tony Goins said Monday, making reference to the booster's nickname. "It's a great boost for us here at the Cape to successfully place an operational satellite on orbit to support the warfighter."
Goins and his colleagues named this Titan 4 the "Ragin' Cajun" in honor of Chief Master Sergeant Patty Dupuis, a Titan manager from Louisiana who supervised maintenance work at Launch Complex 40 and is moving on to a new assignment.
"She's been a super lady and just a tremendous asset and we wanted to show our appreciation for her dedication to the nation and the Titan program," Goins said of Dupuis before the launch.
It was a long day for the Titan team.
The 19-story-tall rocket built by Lockheed Martin began its journey from Launch Complex 40 at 12:01 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (16:01 GMT), almost three hours later than planned because of several technical problems, including a balky door on the rocket that wouldn't close.
But the extra time gave the sun just enough time to move high overhead and provide ideal lighting, turning the always-impressive display of fireworks from a Titan 4 launch into something that was, simply put, stunning.
With its twin solid-fuel rocket boosters sending intense waves of sound over the Florida coast, the giant Titan 4 easily slipped past a few puffy white clouds in its initial climb and then pitched over to head out across the ocean.
Thousands of local residents and tourists who gathered along the beaches and causeways surrounding the air station were able to follow the Titan 4 for several minutes and clearly see the rocket's big boosters separate and fall toward the water.
During the next seven hours the satellite was sent into its final orbit by a Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) that fires its first stage then coasts for six hours before firing its second stage and releasing the satellite.
"Today's launch was a wonderful team effort. The success of this mission is due to their hard work and commitment," said Air Force Col. Mike Dunn, the mission director for the launch.
Monday's success was a welcome respite from the news that followed the last three Titan launches from the Cape.
Between August 1998 and May 1999, three consecutive Titan rockets failed. The first ended up on the Atlantic seafloor, the next two stranded satellites in useless orbits. Total loss to taxpayers: $3 billion.
Each of the failures was traced to specific problems that were identified, solved and fixed, said Rich Blakely, manager of business development for the Titan program at Lockheed Martin, the company that builds the Titan.
In fact, each piece of flight hardware that failed has flown again successfully, either on a different type of rocket or during a launch from California.
Blakely noted that of the three Titan 4 failures at the Cape, only the August 1998 disaster could be traced to a problem with the Titan rocket itself. A split-second power loss in the rocket's guidance system caused the rocket to tumble out of control and self-destruct.
But nothing bad was reported on Monday.
Riding atop the Titan 4 was a Defense Support Program (DSP) missile-warning satellite, just like the one that was lost April 9, 1999 when a Boeing IUS misfired and left the spacecraft in a useless orbit.
The DSP satellite is essentially a heat-sensing telescope that, from its vantage point high above the planet, looks down on Earth in a constant vigil to detect missile launches or nuclear detonations.
Built by TRW Inc. of Redondo Beach, California, DSP satellites operate some 22,300 miles (35, 885 kilometers) above the planet and measure 30 feet (9 meters) in length.
Although the Cold War with the former Soviet Union is long over, the threat of missile launches against the United States, or our allies around the world, remains as more nations develop their own strategic weaponry, said Col. Scott Rounce, DSP deputy program director for the Air Force.
The ongoing debate on Capitol Hill over whether the U.S. should continue to develop, and possibly deploy, a missile-defense system underscores the concern among many that the capability to detect missile launches hasn't gone away, Rounce said.
"Whereas we're not in the jaws of the Cold War anymore, in many ways the world is a much more dangerous place now than it ever was then," Rounce said. "There's no question that we still need a missile-warning-satellite system for our country's peace of mind."
Rounce noted that the satellites played a critical role during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, spotting Iraqi Scud missile launches targeted at coalition forces in Israel and elsewhere in the Middle East.
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