Following the retirement of the Titan family in 2005, the Air Force and the United States Space Force have divided the ITL between two private spaceflight companies in the processing and launch of their rockets. SpaceX currently leases SLC-40 in the integration and launch of their reusable Falcon 9, and additionally uses the SMAB to encapsulate any of their payloads.[2] Meanwhile, SLC-41 has been used by the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture United Launch Alliance (ULA) to launch the Atlas V and Vulcan Centaur.[3] For the assembly of these rockets, the Government Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-G) was constructed for both vehicles, and the SMARF was renamed to the Amazon Vertical Integration Facility (VIF-A) for Vulcan.
Early on, a third launch pad was planned to be constructed at the ITL, to be designated Launch Complex 42 (LC-42). However, the envisioned location west of the facility led to proximity issues with Launch Complex 39A, which resulted in LC-42 never being built.
The Titan II was designated as the new primary ICBM in the Air Force's arsenal during the 1960s, being deployed into numerous silos across the United States. However, this period did not last; the simultaneously developed LGM-30 Minuteman quickly won the Air Force and Kennedy administration's favor in part thanks to its solid fuel compared to the Titan II's toxic hypergols.[4] Although it was not officially retired due to its large size and throw weight, the Titan II was nonetheless demoted to a secondary role and led to a large scale reduction in deployment.
With the new influx of missiles getting mothballed, the Titan II started seeing a second life as a launch vehicle. Although there were previous proposals for such use in the past, the missile began to have concrete plans for space launch getting made, primarily with Project Gemini for NASA (as the Titan II GLV) and the Air Force's X-20 Dyna Soar. Additionally, representatives from both NASA and the Department of Defense formed the Large Launch Vehicle Planning Group (LLVPG), which aimed to use the LGM-25C as the base architecture for a medium-lift launch vehicle designed for putting objects with a mass greater than 10,000 kg into low Earth orbit. The plan called for the Titan II to have the Transtage third stage added on top for the boosting of payloads into geostationary transfer orbit, as well as two large segmented solid rocket boosters (SRBs) attached to the missile's sides. Additionally, as existing Titan II launch sites at Cape Canaveral (such as Launch Complex 19) could not support these modifications, the LLVPG instead proposed to construct an entirely new site where these rockets would get assembled and launched, similar to the planned Saturn V at the nearby Launch Complex 39 of the Launch Operations Center.
In 1961, The LLVPG's medium-lift Titan plan was accepted for use by the Air Force, and development of the Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex commenced on November 24, 1962.[5] As part of the construction process, a total of 4.97 million cubic meters (6.5 million cubic yards) were dredged in order to create artificial islands in the Banana River that could support the complex's integration facilities.[1] Additionally, the Titan IIIC Railroad was laid to assist in the transportation of the solid rocket segments and other vehicle parts to the assembly buildings, connecting to the Florida East Coast Railway via the NASA Railroad to the north.
Overall layout of the ITL complex.
The Air Force also had the ITL designed to allow for the rapid assembly and launching of Titan rockets, aiming for it to be able to handle as many as fifty flights per year.[citation needed] As part of this endeavor, early plans for the complex included the construction of a third pad to the west of LC-40 and 41, aptly named Launch Complex 42. However, concerns arose regarding LC-42's placement potentially conflicting with Launch Complex 39C (now LC-39A) at the newly-renamed Kennedy Space Center, ultimately leading to its cancellation in favor of increased use from LC-40 and 41. The emphasis on cadence was especially made prominent following the 1963 establishment of the Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL) program, which replaced Dyna Soar with a Gemini-based vehicle architecture. During this change, the X-20 Titan pad of Launch Complex 33 was cancelled (cemented by LC-37 being built in place), with any MOL flights being performed at the ITL and Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
By April 1965, construction of the ITL Complex was officially completed and made ready to support the Titan III program and the Titan IIIC. In total, approximately US$48.8 million ($512.4 million in 2025) were used in the issuing of building contracts.[5]
Titan III (1965–1989)
A Titan IIIC carrying several IDCSP satellites launches from LC-41 in June 1966.
At the time of its activation in 1965, the ITL Complex became the first piece of launch architecture to use a rolling-to-pad approach, later seen at sites such as LC-39 at KSC, ELA-3 at the Guiana Space Centre, and the Starship OLPs at Starbase. The assembly process started at the Vertical Integration Building (VIB), where the Titan's first stage, second stage, and Transtage were raised and stacked on a mobile launch platform, inside one of the VIB's four high bays.[6] The core stack, similar in structure to the Titan IIIA, would then get moved to the Solid Motor Assembly Building (SMAB) by a double-tracked railway system specifically designed for the MLP. Once inside the SMAB, the various solid rocket segments would get fueled, stacked into two completed SRBs, and attached to the side of the core segment. Upon completion, the Titan IIIC would exit the SMAB and get transported to either Launch Complex 40 (LC-40) or Launch Complex 41 (LC-41), both identical in their layout and function.[7] After arriving at one of the two pads, the launch vehicle would get enveloped in a movable service structure, where the payload and any potential kickstage would get attached to the rocket and encapsulated in a fairing. Once done, the service structure moves back, the Titan core stages get fueled, and the launch countdown begins.
On June 18, 1965, the ITL Complex witnessed its inaugural launch with the maiden flight of the Titan IIIC, launching out of LC-40 and carrying a boilerplate payload as part of a demonstration mission.[8] The first flight from LC-41 came six months later on December 21, flying with two Lincoln Experimental Satellites bound for geostationary orbit.[9] Throughout the complex's years with the Titan III, the vast majority of payloads launched were military satellites such as Vela, the Initial Defense Communications Satellite Program (IDCSP), and the Defense Support Program (DSP), often flown in rideshares or outside of low Earth orbit. In addition, most civilian Titan flights from the ITL were boosted into heliocentric orbit, often to other planets as part of various NASA exploration programs.
The first notable flight to come out of the complex was on November 3, 1966, with the launch of OPS 0855 from LC-40. A launch conducted as part of the MOL program, a boilerplate payload—comprising the reused Gemini SC-2 capsule (previously flown on Gemini 2) and a repurposed Titan I oxidizer tank—was launched into orbit. The flight served as a demonstration for a future operational mission that would have used the upgraded Titan IIIM, which aimed to use a stretched core stage (later seeing use with some Titan IIIB variations) and to replace the IIIC's five-segment UA120 boosters with seven-segment UA1207s. OPS 0855 would later turn out to be the only launch of the MOL program, as various delays and cost increases associated with the Vietnam War ultimately led to its cancellation by the Nixon administration in 1969.[10]
In accordance with the troubles that plagued and killed off the MOL, the need for the ITL Complex to support such a high cadence quickly faded away, with the Air Force instead aiming for a much lower flight rate of five launches per year. As such, the need to use both pads 40 and 41 was similarly discarded, with all remaining Titan IIIC flights in the 1960s solely launching from LC-41. In 1970, these launches were relocated to LC-40, with the final Titan IIIC flight from 41 occurring on May 23, 1969, carrying two Vela satellites into medium Earth orbit. One of these satellites, OPS-6911, later became known for detecting a double flash in the southwest Indian Ocean in 1979, sparking the Vela incident.[11]
During the early 1970s, the Air Force and NASA partnered in modifying the ITL in order to support a civilian-oriented Titan rocket, the Titan IIIE.[12] This launch vehicle was born in need of a rocket more powerful than Atlas-Centaur to launch interplanetary spacecraft, which was made much more necessary following the expected retirement of the Saturn family with the conclusion of the Apollo Program and Apollo Applications Program. Using a cryogenicCentaur upper stage in place of the Transtage, the Titan IIIE complemented the IIIC’s operations at the complex by utilizing one of the VIB’s high bays for core assembly and launching from LC-41.[13] The maiden flight of the rocket (and first civilian launch from the ITL Complex in general) occurred on February 11, 1974, carrying the Sphinx test satellite for NASA into space before a turbopump malfunction on the Centaur engaged range safety protocols.
Over the next three years, the Titan IIIE launched six more times from the ITL Complex, each flight carrying its payloads into heliocentric orbit. The first of these spacecraft was Helios-A in December 1974, which was a heliophysics-centered probe that became the first to travel inside Mercury's orbit. It was later complemented with its sister Helios-B in January 1976, which set a proximity record to the Sun that stood until the Parker Solar Probe's launch more than 40 years later in 2018. Following this, the twospacecraft of the Viking program launched from LC-41 for Mars in the summer of 1975, during which Viking 1 became the first spacecraft to successfully operate on the Martian surface.[14] Lastly, the Voyager program took off using the final two IIIE flights in 1977, aiming at exploring the four outer planets using an alignment that occurs once every 175 years.[15]Voyager 2 launched first in August, later becoming the first spacecraft to visit Uranus and Neptune, while Voyager 1 used the IIIE's last launch in September to become the furthest artificial object from Earth.
Following the TItan IIIE's retirement, use of the ITL Complex slowed going into the 1980s, largely as a result of the nascent Space Shuttle program operated by NASA with DoD input. The philosophy the prevailed at this time was that since the Space Shuttle was designed to be both reusable and able to service payloads in-orbit, the need for more expensive conventional rockets such as the Titan family would dwindle and they would eventually be retired. Despite this, the ITL remained in service with the introduction of the Titan 34D, designed to replace the IIIC and the Vandenberg-only Titan IIID. Due to these changes, the VIB and the SMAB were given minor modifications to support the new launch vehicle, on account of the lengthened SRBs and core stage as well as the option to support the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) and Transfer Orbit Stage (TOS).[16] The maiden flight of the 34D occurred on October 30, 1982 from LC-40, seven months after the IIIC's final flight and carrying two Defense Satellite Communications System satellites. Like its predecessor, the Titan 34D's time at the ITL was entirely performed with military payloads aboard, flying eight times from 1982 to its retirement in 1988.
Commercial Titan III and Titan IV (1990–2005)
During the mid-1980s, in response to concerns regarding the Space Shuttle's reliability with military payloads, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) under Director and Air Force Under SecretaryPete Aldridge approved the development of the Complementary Expendable Launch Vehicle in order to assist the Shuttle with payloads of national security.[17] Later renamed the Titan IV, it was initially planned to fly only a handful of missions from LC-41, with the expectation that it would be swiftly retired once the Space Shuttle was flying at a satisfactory rate according to the DoD. These plans were hastily discarded following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, with the failure of STS-51-L creating an immediate shift to uncrewed launch vehicles for military and commercial payloads and a rapid expansion of the Titan IV program. Additionally, Martin Marietta used the new need for a commercial launcher to start developing the Commercial Titan III, using proposals for a Titan 34D successor to instead support civilian Titan launches. As a result, a renewed focus was given to the ITL by the Air Force and Martin Marietta in order for it to support this next generation.
The Titan IV to be used for Cassini–Huygens departing the SMARF in May 1997.
In preparation of this new phase, the ITL underwent a series of modifications in order to support the two upcoming launch vehicles. The plans called for the facility to be split in responsibility similarly to its 1970s configuration: LC-40 would be used for the civilian launches of the Commercial Titan III, while LC-41 would get reactivated to support the Titan IV's military objectives. As the SMAB was incapable of handling the larger UA-1207 and SRMU solid-fuel boosters, the decision was made to forgo an expensive renovation of the building and for Titan IV cores to instead bypass it for the Solid Motor Assembly and Readiness Facility (SMARF), a newly-constructed building located to the north.[18] The Titan III facility would not go unused however, as the Commercial Titan III's similarity to the 34D allowed it to continue its part in integration. The new era of use was officially christened on June 14, 1989 with the Titan IV's maiden flight, carrying a Defense Support Program satellite for the Air Force. It was followed by the maiden Commercial Titan III launch on January 1, 1990 carrying Skynet 4A and JCSAT-2.
Contrary to Martin Marietta's hopes, this new configuration for the ITL would prove to not last. The Commercial Titan III struggled to acquire customers due to its expensive price compared to competitors, with procurement instead being made to cheaper launch vehicles like the Delta II, Ariane 4, and newly-available Russian ones like Proton.[19] This eventually helped lead to the rocket being retired in 1992, only being launched four times; regardless, it nonetheless managed to launch two notable payloads, being Intelsat 603 on March 14, 1990 (during which a stage separation failure left it stranded in LEO, leading to Space Shuttle Endeavour visiting it on STS-49) and Mars Observer on September 25, 1992 (which ultimately failed en route to the titular planet). Following the retirement, the SMAB was deactivated and LC-40 was given further modifications in order to support Titan IV launches, serving its first one on February 7, 1994 with a Milstar satellite.
↑ Williams, David R. Dr. (December 18, 2006). "Viking Mission to Mars". NASA. Archived from the original on December 6, 2023. Retrieved February 2, 2014.
† indicates that the launch pad's use is currently not as a launch site. ‡ indicates that the launch pad is under construction or renovation.
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