The Nation : Last Titan 3 Rocket Lifts Satellite to Orbit

The Air Force’s last Titan 3 rocket blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a secret military satellite, ending a quarter-century of launches by a workhorse booster that has hurled more than 200 satellites into space. The 16-story rocket, the powerful 34D model, illuminated the early morning darkness as it blazed away from its launch pad. The Air Force said it was the 135th success in 141 launches for the Titan 3 family, a 96% success rate. Titan 3 rockets were also used to launch two Viking spacecraft toward Mars in 1976 and sent the Voyager 1 and 2 probes in 1977 toward the solar system’s outer reaches. The Air Force is replacing the Titan 3 with the larger Titan 4, the first of which boosted a missile-warning satellite into orbit June 14. Sources said the final Titan 3 payload may have been a reconnaissance satellite.