AF Launches First Titan Since Explosion

The Air Force on Monday launched its first Titan 34D since the same type of rocket blew up on liftoff more than a year ago, carrying what experts believe to be a secret spy satellite.

The rocket, bearing what the Air Force would describe only as a classified payload, lifted off at 1:32 p.m., Air Force Tech. Sgt. Virgil Short said.

The rocket was visible for about 20 seconds before it disappeared in the cloud cover.

John Pike, a space policy expert for the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, said it most likely carried a top-secret KH-11 photo-reconnaissance satellite, although it might carry an advanced model of the “Jumpseat” eavesdropping satellite.

Since another KH-11 was deactivated in early August, 1985, the United States has had only one photo-reconnaissance satellite, also a KH-11, in orbit to monitor Soviet military activities and compliance with arms control agreements. But it is nearing the end of its three-year lifetime, Pike noted.

He said a successful KH-11 launch would mean “we’re out of the woods in terms of the threat of being blinded in space.”

Monday’s launch was the first of a Titan 34D since another 34D blew up during liftoff from Vandenberg on April 18, 1986. An Air Force investigation blamed the explosion on the peeling of insulation inside one of the rocket’s solid-fuel boosters.

On Aug. 28, 1985, another Titan 34D and its cargo were destroyed after launch from Vandenberg when the booster sustained a massive oxidizer leak and pump failure.