The huge Titan III C vehicle, towering over 150 feet into the air, movies into place on the launch pad. Missile is carried on same railroad car on which its parts were assembled.
Once the solid rockets have lifted Titan III C and it’s payload off the ground, their role is finished. As this sketch shows, when the solids burn out, they separate from the core section. Just before solid burnout, the first-stage liquid propellant engines are ignited to push the spacecraft farther towards space.
Course of the Titan III and it’s payload is monitored from a launch center such as this.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Titan at Astronautix
Image credit: USAF
Image source: National Archives
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