D.4 Titan Launch and Performance History
The Titan family of launch vehicles was established in 1955, when the Air Force
awarded the Martin Company a contract to build a heavy-duty space system. Titan I
was the nation's first two-stage ICBM and the first to be silo-based. It proved many
structural and propulsion techniques that were later incorporated into Titan II. The
Titan II was a heavy-duty missile using storable propellants that became a man-rated
space booster for NASA's Gemini program. Today the Titan II is returning as a space-
launch vehicle with the old ICBMs converted to deliver payloads to orbit. Titan III was
the outgrowth of propulsion technology developed in both Titan II and Minuteman
ballistic-missile programs.
Today's Titan vehicles (II, III, and IV) are derived from the earlier Titans. In 1984, the
DOD called for a space-launch system· that would complement the Space Shuttle to
ensure access to space for certain national-security payloads. The Titan IV program
began as a short-term program for ten launches from Cape Canaveral Air Station.
However, after the Challenger accident in· 1986, the program has grown to 41 vehicles.
With the off-loading of DOD payloads from Shuttle, Titan IV has become DOD's main
access to space for many of its heavy payloads. Design of the Titan II Space Launch
Vehicle (SLV) began at the same time as that for Titan IV. Titan II SLV was developed
from refurbished Titan II ICBMs incorporating technology and hardware from the
Titan III program.




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