Features
The Titan IIIC was the largest unmanned space booster used by the Air Force until the Titan IV was developed in 1988. It provided assured capability for launch of large-class payloads. The vehicle was flexible in that it could be launched with no upper stage, or one of two optional upper stages for greater and varied carrying ability.
The Titan IIIC consisted of a hypergolic liquid-fueled core and two large solid rocket boosters. It was launched on the solid boosters – the liquid core ignited about two minutes into flight.
The Titan IIIC core consisted of two stages. The first, the Titan 3A-1, had two LR87 liquid propellant rocket engines that featured structurally independent tanks for its fuel (Aerozine 50) and oxidizer (Nitrogen Tetroxide). This minimized the hazard of the two mixing if a leak should have developed in either tank. Additionally the engine propellants were stored in a launch-ready state for extended periods. The second stage, the Titan 3A-2, consisted of an LR91 liquid propellant rocket engine attached to an airframe, much like stage 1. The third stage, the Titan Transtage, was a restartable upper stage used with the Titan IIC, Titan IIIA, and Titan 34D. The Transtage, like the two core stages, used liquid hypergolic fuels.
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