Titan IV B-26 lifts off on Oct. 19. Photo by Pat Corkery, Lockheed Martin.

Final Titan Rocket Launches
from Vandenberg

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (10/19/05) -- The Titan rocket roared from the launch pad for the final time at 11:05 a.m. PDT Oct. 19 from Vandenberg Air Force Base amid applause from Titan team members including employees from both the Eastern and Western Range Directorates. The launch marks the end of the Titan program.

Lift-off of Titan IV B-26 from Space Launch Complex–4 East at Vandenberg occurred near the opening of the launch window. It safely released a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit. The launch marked the 200th Titan mission from Vandenberg and the 39th and final Titan IV rocket.

“In addition to congratulating today’s Titan team, I’d like to congratulate The Aerospace Corporation for making major contributions to the Titan Program from the very beginning of the Space Launch Vehicle Program in the 1960s,” said Ray Johnson, vice president, Space Launch Operations. “We can all be very proud of the contributions that we’ve made to national-security space through our support of the Titan,” added Johnson.

The mission was dedicated to three recently deceased Titan team members. The Aerospace Corporation’s Lenny Hoops was one of the honorees. His name was affixed to the rocket’s upper stage, which will remain in orbit. Hoops, who died April 1, 2005, served as an expert in ground control and monitoring system hardware and software used to test Titan IV rockets at Vandenberg.

The Aerospace Corporation, with headquarters in El Segundo, Calif., is an independent, nonprofit company that provides objective technical analyses and assessments for national-security space programs and civil and commercial space programs in the national interest.