Tonkawa Massacre

The Titan 23G, Titan II(23)G, Titan 2(23)G or Titan II SLV was an American expendable launch system derived from the LGM-25C Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile. Retired Titan II missiles were converted by Martin Marietta, into which the Glenn L. Martin Company, which built the original Titan II, had merged. It was used to carry payloads for the United States Air Force (USAF), NASA and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Thirteen were launched from Space Launch Complex 4W (SLC-4W) at the Vandenberg Air Force Base between 1988 and 2003.^[1]

Titan 23G rockets consisted of two stages burning liquid propellant. The first stage was powered by one Aerojet LR87 engine with two combustion chambers and nozzles, and the second stage was propelled by an LR91. On some flights, the spacecraft included a kick motor, usually the Star-37XFP-ISS; however, the Star-37S was also used.^[1]

A contract to refurbish fourteen Titan II missiles to the Titan 23G configuration was awarded to Martin Marietta in January 1986. The first launch occurred on 5 September 1988, carrying a classified payload for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office. Thirteen were launched, with the fourteenth going to the Evergreen Aviation Museum.^[2] The final flight occurred on 17 October 2003, carrying a Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite.^[3]

During refurbishment, the forward structure of the second stage was modified with the addition of a payload attachment fitting to attach the payload to the rocket, and installing a payload fairing to protect it during launch. The engines were refurbished, and the rockets' guidance and control systems were upgraded by Delco Electronics.

The former Titan IIIB pad at Vandenberg, SLC-4W, was modified to accommodate the Titan 23G, and was used for all thirteen launches.

Launch history

All launches of Titan II(23)G rockets took place from Space Launch Complex 4W (SLC-4W) at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Date/Time (UTC)	Serial number		Third Stage	Payload	Outcome	Remarks
Date/Time (UTC)	Rocket	Stages	Third Stage	Payload	Outcome	Remarks
5 September 1988 09:25	G-1	B-98/56	None	USA-32 (Bernie)	Success
6 September 1989 01:48	G-2	B-75/99	None	USA-45 (Bernie)	Success	Spacecraft failed immediately after launch
25 April 1992 08:53	G-3	B-102	None	USA-81 (Bernie)	Success
5 October 1993 17:56	G-5	B-65	None	Landsat 6	Failure	Spacecraft Star-37 failure, failed to achieve orbit^[4]
25 January 1994 16:34	G-11	B-89/67	None	Clementine DSPSE-ISA^[5]	Success
4 April 1997 16:47	G-6	B-106	None	USA-131 (DMSP-5D2 F-14)	Success
13 May 1998 15:52:04	G-12	B-84/80	None	NOAA-15 (NOAA-K)	Success	Included oxidizer (N₂O₄) tank from Titan II B-72
20 June 1999 02:15:00	G-7	B-99/75	None	QuikSCAT	Success
12 December 1999 17:36:01	G-8	B-94/44	None	USA-147 (DMSP-5D3 F-15)	Success
21 September 2000 10:22	G-13	B-96/39	None	NOAA-16 (NOAA-L)	Success
24 June 2002 18:23:04	G-14	B-71/72	None	NOAA-17 (NOAA-M)	Success	Included oxidizer (N₂O₄) tank from Titan II B-92
6 January 2003 14:19	G-4	B-105	None	Coriolis	Success
18 October 2003 16:17	G-9	B-107	None	USA-172 (DMSP-5D3 F-16)	Success	Final Titan II launch

A fourteenth rocket, G-10, based on Titan II B-108, but incorporating an oxygen tank from B-80, was not launched and is preserved at the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon. The remaining 42 Titan II missiles were stored at Davis-Monthan AFB with most being broken up for salvage. Four were transferred to museums.

01 Titan-23G01 BERNIE-1 ELINT satellite
04 Titan-23G05 LANDSAT-6
05 Titan-23G11 CLEMENTINE
06 Titan-23G06 DMSP-F14
07 Titan-23G12 NOAA-K
08 Titan-23G07 QuickSCAT
09 Titan-23G08 DMSP-F15
10 Titan-23G13 NOAA-L
11 Titan-23G14 NOAA-M
12 Titan-23G04 CORIOLIS
13 Titan-23G09 DMSP-F16
Titan-II B-108 in 1988 became 23G10 program spare

References

^ ^a ^b Krebs, Gunter. "Titan-2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
^ Kyle, Ed (2009-04-14). "Titan 23G Data Sheet". Space Launch Report. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
^ Wade, Mark. "Titan". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on August 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-29.
^ Wade, Mark. "Landsat 6". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on June 21, 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
^ "DSPSE-ISA". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

[GSP-1] Krebs, Gunter. "Titan-2". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2009-04-29.

[SLR-2] Kyle, Ed (2009-04-14). "Titan 23G Data Sheet". Space Launch Report. Archived from the original on 2022-03-21. Retrieved 2023-05-15.

[EA-3] Wade, Mark. "Titan". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on August 5, 2008. Retrieved 2009-04-29.

[4] Wade, Mark. "Landsat 6". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on June 21, 2002. Retrieved 24 January 2014.

[5] "DSPSE-ISA". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 24 May 2021.

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USAF and USSF space vehicle designations (since 1962)
SLV series	SLV-1 (Scout) SLV-2 (Thor) SLV-3 (Atlas) SLV-4 (Titan II) SLV-5 (Titan)
SB series	SB-1 SB-2 SB-3 SB-4 SB-5 SB-6 SSB-7 SSB-8 SSB-9 SSB-10 ASB-11
Satellites	WS-1 WS-2 LS-3 ES-4 ES-5 LS-6 NS-7 ES-8 LS-9 LS-10 (I) XSS-10 (II) XSS-11² XSS-12 S-13¹ ES-14 LS-15³ LS-16³ ES-17 EWS-G1 EWS-G2
¹ Not assigned ² Unofficial designation ³ Designation believed to be this type but unconfirmed

Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica-1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased RS1^† Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega original C Vulcan Centaur Zenit 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Ariane 6 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 12 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

Orbital launch systems developed in the United States
Active	Atlas V**^†† Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Minotaur I IV V C Pegasus XL RS1^† SLS Block 1 Starship Vulcan Centaur
In development	Antares 330 Daytona Firefly Beta New Glenn Neutron Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Terran R
Retired	Antares 110/120/130/230/230+^††† Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able Agena Centaur Conestoga Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" H-I* Juno I Juno II LauncherOne N-I* N-II* Pilot Rocket 3 Saturn I IB V Scout Space Shuttle SPARK Sparta Terran 1 Thor Able Ablestar Agena Burner Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Vanguard
* - Japanese projects using US rockets or stages ** - uses Russian engines ^† - never succeeded ^†† - no new orders accepted ^††† - used Ukrainian first stage

Launch history

See also

References