Mission

Titan 23B is a medium-lift space launch vehicle used to carry payloads for the Air Force. The Titan 23B was launched from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. Its main payload was the GAMBIT (KH-8 reconnaissance) satellites.

Features

The Titan 23B space launch vehicle is a three-stage liquid fueled booster, designed to provide a small-to-medium weight class capability. It is able to lift approximately 3,000 kg (7,500 lb) into a polar low-Earth circular orbit. The first stage consists of a ground ignited LR87 liquid propellant rocket, while the second stage consists of a LR91 liquid propellant rocket. The third stage is an Agena D XLR81-BA-9 liquid propellant rocket.

Various models of this Titan/Agena D rocket were called, "Titan 23B", "Titan 24B", "Titan 33B" and "Titan 34B"

Background

The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955, when the Air Force awarded Lockheed Martin (formerly the Martin Company) a contract to build an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). It became known as the Titan I, the nation’s first two-stage ICBM and first underground silo-based ICBM. More than 140 Titan II ICBMs, once the vanguard of America’s strategic deterrent force, were built. Titan IIs also were flown in NASA’s Gemini manned space program in the mid-1960s. The Titan 23B is a derivative of the Titan II vehicle with an Agena D upper stage added.

• Primary function: Launch vehicle used to lift medium class satellites into space

• Builder: Lockheed-Martin Astronautics

• Launch site: Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

• First stage: Length: 70 ft (21 m)
• Diameter: 10 feet
• Engine thrust: 474,000 lbf (2,108 kN) vacuum
• Weight: 258,000 lb (117,020 kg) Fueled
  • Empty weight: 10,500 lb (4,760 kg)

• Second stage: Length: 24 ft (7.3 m)
• Diameter: 10 ft (3.0 m)
• Engine Thrust: 100,000 lbf (445 kN) vacuum
• Weight: 64,000 lb (29,030 kg) Fueled
  • Empty weight: 6,100 lb (2,760 kg)

• Third stage: Length: 24.8 ft (7.6 m)
• Diameter: 5 ft (1.5 m)
• Engine thrust: 16,000 lbf (71 kN) vacuum
• Weight: 7160 kg (15800 lb) - fueled
  • Empty Weight: 2300 lb (1045 kg)

• Guidance: Inertial
• Subcontractor: Delco Electronics

• Payload fairing: Diameter: 5 ft (1.5 m)
• Length: 20 to 25 ft (6.1 to 7.6 m)

• Skin and Stringer Construction -- Tri-Sector Design
• Subcontractor: Boeing

• Date deployed: July 1966

See also

• KH-8 GAMBIT reconnaissance satellite.

External Links

Reference