Detail View: NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection: The Last Titan
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Title:
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The Last Titan
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Explanation:
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On October 19th [ http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/newsPaper/~lead.asp ], a rocket blasted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base - the last Titan rocket. Carrying a payload for the US National Reconnaissance Office, the successful Titan IV B launch brings to a close the Titan program whose first launch was in 1959. Originally designed as an intercontinental ballistic missile, the Titan rocket [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(rocket_family) ] ultimately evolved into a heavy lift workhorse, launching defense, commercial, and scientific payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. In fact, many historic space explorations began with Titan launches, including manned Gemini [ http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/history/gemini/ gemini.htm ] missions, the Viking [ http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/viking.html ] missions to Mars, the Voyager [ http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/ ] tours of the outer solar system, and the Cassini [ http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm ] spacecraft now orbiting Saturn. Cassini's probe Huygens accomplished the most distant landing [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap050117.html ] on another world, while Voyager 1 [ http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap031120.html ] is now humanity's most distant spacecraft [ http://www.heavens-above.com/solar-escape.asp ].
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Credit and Copyright:
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Courtesy 30th Space Wing, Vandenberg Air Force Base [ http://www.vandenberg.af.mil/ ]
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facet_when:
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1959
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facet_where:
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Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)
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facet_what:
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Cassini
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facet_when_year:
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1959
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original url:
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http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap051027.html
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UID:
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SPD-APOD-ap051027
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