Abstract When the Shuttle was declared operational in 1982 the Air Force became concerned that it took so long to ‘turn around’ that it would never achieve the advertised flight rate, and that without considerable further development it would not meet its target of being able to insert a 14.5-tonne payload into polar orbit. On 7 February 1984 the Department of Defense issued a Space Launch Strategy calling for the development of an expendable launch vehicle capable of placing a Shuttle-class payload into geostationary orbit.1 In March 1984 the Air Force announced its Request for Proposals from industry for such a Complementary Expendable Launch Vehicle, with the rate of its development being the crucial factor because the existing production lines were in the process of closing down. The two leading entries were for upgraded forms of the Atlas and the Titan III, with the Titan III winning.2 In the 1960s, the Air Force had developed a version of the Titan IIIC with a seven-segment strap-on for its Manned Orbiting Laboratory, which would be launched with a two-man Gemini spacecraft on its nose.3 Although this Titan HIM was cancelled in 1969, the new vehicle would be a stretched Titan 34D with these seven-segment strap-ons in a configuration designated the Titan 34D7. It would also have a much larger shroud in order to accommodate the satellites which had been designed for the Shuttle’s cavernous payload bay. The Air Force received development approval in October 1984, and in June 1985 it awarded the production contract for 10 vehicles. The initial plan was that they would all employ the wide-bodied Centaur G-Prime that was under development for the Shuttle, but the contract was revised to include the option of using the IUS.4
Heavyweights
01.01.2005
25 pages
Aufsatz/Kapitel (Buch)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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