#1
|
|||
|
|||
Last Titan Centaur
Tonight's (9/8/03) planned Titan 401B-36 launch is the
last Titan Centaur. According to: "http://www.pw.utc.com/unique/html/releases/090303.html" the launch of the TC-20 Centaur stage will be the 22nd of its type. The first of these machines, which powered Viking, Voyager, Helios, Cassini, and Milstar, among others, flew in 1974. Powering TC-20 will be the last two Pratt & Whitney RL 10A-3 liquid hydrogen/oxygen engines. Eighteen of the first 21 Titan Centaur missions were successful. - Ed Kyle |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
Last Titan Centaur
On 8 Sep 2003 12:56:06 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote:
Tonight's (9/8/03) planned Titan 401B-36 launch is the last Titan Centaur. And I'd be able to see it from here except that it is completely overcast. There is one more Titan (4B) scheduled for the Cape, January 17. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html |
#3
|
|||
|
|||
Last Titan Centaur
Jan Philips wrote in message . ..
On 8 Sep 2003 12:56:06 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote: Tonight's (9/8/03) planned Titan 401B-36 launch is the last Titan Centaur. And I'd be able to see it from here except that it is completely overcast. There is one more Titan (4B) scheduled for the Cape, January 17. I sort of saw a Titan launch once. Back in the '80s, I worked at KSC. I had noticed a Titan 34D standing on Pad 40 for many weeks (not unusual, sometimes one would be rolled out, sit there for months - one time for more than a year - and then be rolled back), but had not heard any scuttlebut about a launch date. Things were either more secret back then or I just didn't have my ear to the ground. One night, while snoozing in my apartment, I felt the floor moving - as if an earth tremor was happening. I had felt that before, during shuttle launches, so I rushed outside to see, high in the midnight sky, the twinkling departure of a Titan first stage from its burned out SRBs. I still find it hard to believe that the story of the Titan program, a program that is almost as big as NASA's shuttle program has yet to be told. I wonder if it ever will. - Ed Kyle |
#4
|
|||
|
|||
Last Titan Centaur
Jan Philips wrote in message . ..
On 9 Sep 2003 07:22:01 -0700, (ed kyle) wrote: I sort of saw a Titan launch once. How does a Titan IV haunch compare to the shuttle, as far as impact? (sound, brightness, etc.) I can only comment on the Titan 34D version, which had less powerful SRBs than Titan IV. Titan 34D was impressive, but not nearly impressive as a shuttle launch. Shuttle weighed 2.8 times as much (2,030 tons vs. 724 tons) and produced 2.3 times as much liftoff thrust (2,626 tons vs. 1,150 tons) as Titan 34D. So, not only did shuttle make more noise, but it rose more slowly so that it made more noise for a longer period of time. I got to see a shuttle launch once from a spot that was a few hundred yards closer to Pad A than the press site. The ground rolled beneath my feet, *then* the sound hit - and I mean hit. I could not just hear the sound, I could feel it - feel the air pressure waves beating on my face and on my hair and on my eardrums. As shuttle rose, the sound grew in intensity until it got to be a bit scary - a thunderous staccato ripping rumble ROAR that was already too loud kept getting louder and louder while the ground kept moving enough to almost knock me down. I'll never forget that feeling - knowing I was witnessing the marshalling of raw massive power on a scale surpassed only a few times before in all human history. - Ed Kyle |
#5
|
|||
|
|||
Last Titan Centaur
|
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
Sedna, space probes?, colonies? what's next? | TKalbfus | Policy | 265 | July 13th 04 12:00 AM |
Titan 4s costly | AllanStern | Space Shuttle | 9 | February 17th 04 06:02 AM |
Jonathan's Space Report No. 509, 18-09-2003 | Jacques van Oene | Space Shuttle | 4 | September 23rd 03 08:27 AM |
Jonathan's Space Report No. 509, 18-09-2003 | Jacques van Oene | Space Station | 4 | September 23rd 03 08:27 AM |
NASA Selects Winning Student Design For Titan Aerial Vehicle | Ron Baalke | Technology | 0 | August 7th 03 06:08 AM |