Titan Ⅳ Integration Process

摘要

Lockheed Martin's Titan IVB is the largest expendable launch vehicle in the American inventory. Used primarily for large classified military payloads, Titan IVB is the latest incarnation (1997) of the Titan Ⅲ rocket which first appeared at Cape Canaveral in June 1965. Titan Ⅲ pioneered the mobile Integrate Transfer and Launch (ITL) process, where diesel locomotives are used to transport the rocket 4.8 km between assembly buildings and out to the launch pad at Complex 40. These photographs, from the Cassini Saturn mission, illustrate the 24 week ITL process from arrival of the Titan core stages to launch. Titan Ⅳs at Vandenberg AFB are erected in the 'traditional' manner by crane at SLC-4E.