Heritage Atlas/Titan Update

We are at L-7 and counting down to the final heritage U.S. 
ICBM-based (Atlas or Titan) launch vehicle flight.  Six of 
these seven are currently scheduled to fly in 2004.  

AC-164, launched December 2, 2003, was the last heritage Atlas 
of 284 launched from Vandenberg AFB/Point Arguello since 1959.  
After AC-164, only four Rocketdyne-boosted Atlas vehicles remain.  
The last one, AC-167, is expected to "blast-off" from Cape 
Canaveral about mid-year 2004.  

If my counts (based on Jonathan's Space Report Launch Vehicle 
Database at "http://www.planet4589.org/space/lvdb/index.html";) are 
correct, AC-167 will be the 293rd heritage Atlas to fly from the 
Cape, and the 577th overall since 1957.  It will also be the 142nd 
Rocketdyne-boosted Atlas Centaur.  I don't include Atlas III or 
Atlas V in these numbers, nor do I count non-launch on-pad or 
in-silo accidents, which destroyed five Atlas vehicles 
during the 1960s.     

These missions will spell the end for both Rocketdyne MA-5A 
propulsion and for Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 36A, 
site of the first attempted and first successful hydrogen 
fueled upper stage launches on May 8, 1962 and November 27, 
1963, respectively.  

Pad 36A hosted the successful AC-10/Surveyor 1 launch in 1966, 
but was also the site of the Cape's biggest on-pad explosion on 
March 2, 1965.  

That was when AC-5 suffered an improper RP-1 pre-valve closing 
two seconds after lift off, causing the booster engines (if I 
recall correctly) to shut down.  The rocket fell back through 
the launch stand into the flame trench, creating a huge fireball 
that put the pad out of commission for months.

SLC 36B, unlike SLC 36A was modified to support Atlas III, so 
the "B" pad will be used for a few more years.       

Two Titan IVBs are expected to launch from Cape Canaveral 
during 2004.  The first of these will feature the final 
Boeing-built IUS upper stage, which will propel DSP-22 into 
geosynchronous orbit.  A third and final Titan IVB has been 
scheduled to fly from Vandenberg AFB in early 2005, but this 
mission does not currently appear in the on-line Vandenberg 
schedule.  If it flies, it will be the 39th Titan IV launch and 
the 368th Titan flight overall.  

If current plans hold, a Titan will close out the heritage 
U.S. ICBM-based booster era.  

Here is the countdown list, as of the end of 2003.

-------------------------------------------------------------
7  Atlas IIAS AC-165      AMC-10        CC SLC-36    Feb 2004
6  Titan 402B B-39/IUS    DSP-22        CC SLC-40    Feb 2004
5  Atlas IIAS AC-163      Superbird 6   CC SLC-36    Apr 2004
4  Atlas IIAS AC-166      AMC-11        CC SLC-36    May 2004
3  Atlas IIAS AC-167      NRO           CC SLC-36    Jun 2004
2  Titan 403B B-30        NRO           CC SLC-40    Oct 2004
1  Titan 40XB B-26        NRO           VAFB SLC-4E  Feb 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------

0  Titan 40XB B-37        Unassigned    
0  Titan 23G  G-10        Unassigned    
 
  - Ed Kyle