More important than the rumbling of the defense debate last week was the roar of a 110-ton Titan intercontinental ballistic missile lifting cleanly into space with 300,000 pounds of thrust. After nine months of frustrating failure at its Cape Canaveral pads (which crews had dubbed "the inferiority complex"), Titan No. B7A got off to its first two-stage flight. Two minutes and 50 miles downrange, its second stage kicked in with 80.000 pounds of thrust, a roar heard round the world because Titan's 41-foot, 24-ton second stage is the largest vehicle known to have...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In