Update: It launched.
If systems problems can be solved, the last of the Titan II boosters will launch from Vandenberg AFB this weekend. My Dad worked on the Titan II, and my eldest sister’s late husband built them at Martin’s plant in Denver.
My sister has a photo of her husband standing on a platform next to the missile. Nelson, a burly Swedish farmer’s son, looks like a model for a socialist realist painting.
The Titan IIs were originally ballistic missiles, sitting in silos across the country, poised to attack the Soviet Union with atomic bombs through much of the Cold War. They also were the booster for the two man crews of the Gemini missions. In the late 1980’s they were decommissioned, and some of the missiles were recycled into space launch vehicles.
After this, there’ll be one Titan II left, and it’s slated to become a museum exhibit.
