Apr 30 2005
From The Space Library
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(New page: USA 182, a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) classified military satellite, launched atop a Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. The rocket was the last T...)
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USA 182, a National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) classified military satellite, launched atop a Titan 4B rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida. The rocket was the last Titan to launch from the Florida coast, signaling the end of the historic program after five decades and 168 launches. Only one Titan remained, scheduled for a July launch from Edwards Air Force Base in California. The United States was retiring the Titan, which had begun as a two-stage intercontinental ballistic missile in the 1950s and had made its first launch from Cape Canaveral in 1959, in favor of the less-expensive and more modular Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rocket series, which could fulfill the need for heavy-lifting to space. Titan 2 missiles had served as the boosters for NASA's Gemini missions, and various Titan 3 and Titan 34D rockets had launched satellites, as had Titan 4, the largest and most powerful version in the program. Titan rockets had also launched space probes~Viking to Mars, Voyager to the outer planets, and Cassini to Saturn. (Spacewarn Bulletin, no. 618; Justin Ray, “Reality Realized: Titan Has Left Cape Canaveral,” Spaceflight Now, 30 April 2005.)
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