Lockheed-Martin Titan IVB Rocket Successfully Launches Military Communications Satellite

File Photo

By Cliff Lethbridge

CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, FL (February 27, 2001) - A Lockheed-Martin Titan IVB rocket successfully launched the MILSTAR II-F4 (MILSTAR Flight 4) satellite from Launch Pad 40 at 4:20 p.m. EST today. At a total cost of about $1 billion including the rocket and its payload, the launch represented another do-or-die scenario for the Air Force, which had suffered three back-to-back Titan IV failures in 1998 and 1999 costing upwards of $3 billion. Minute attention to detail was given to today's launch, which was originally scheduled for April, 2000. Launch was delayed due to a number of scheduling and technical concerns. The first official launch attempt was scheduled for February 24, but slipped to February 27 due to telemetry communications problems in the Titan IVB first stage. Today's launch was delayed about 2.5 hours due to ground support problems which were successfully resolved.

MILSTAR II-F4 is the fourth MILSTAR satellite launched from Cape Canaveral. The satellite joins the MILSTAR I-F1 and MILSTAR I-F2 satellites which are already in orbit. MILSTAR II-F3 was placed in a useless orbit due to a Titan IVB second stage failure following launch on April 30, 1999. The MILSTAR satellite constellation will provide a plethora of communications services for the U.S. military, primarily in the provision of protected transmissions in support of wartime command and control operations. The first two MILSTAR satellites carried the designation MILSTAR I, with subsequent satellites carrying the designation MILSTAR II to recognize more advanced communications capabilities. A total of four operational satellites are needed to bring the constellation to fully operational status. It is likely the Air Force will operate the constellation with five satellites of six originally intended. The lost MILSTAR II-F3 satellite will probably not be replaced.

It is the tradition of the Air Force to nickname each military Titan IV rocket. The Titan IVB launched today (officially designated Titan IV-B41) was nicknamed "Gus" by Air Force mission managers. The decision was announced on January 27, 2001 at Cape Canaveral Launch Pad 34 during a memorial service for the crew of Apollo 1, killed at that site during a launch pad fire on January 27, 1967. Gus Grissom was the commander of the Apollo 1 crew, and Air Force management felt the name "Gus" would pay tribute to the entire crew, which also included Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Official commemorative artwork was presented to representatives of the Grissom, White and Chaffee families by the MILSTAR II-F4 launch team at this year's annual Apollo 1 memorial service. Some eyewitnesses to the launch were amazed to see the wind carve the Titan IVB exhaust into a gigantic number "3". One eyewitness was struck by the fact that "3" was the racing number of Dale Earnhardt, tragically killed during the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 on February 18. The number "3" also represents the number of astronauts killed during the Apollo 1 fire, to whom today's launch paid official tribute.

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