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Titan IV Rocket Successfully Launches from California

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, CA, October 5th, 2001 -- Lockheed Martin-built Titan IV B rocket successfully launched a national security payload for the U.S. Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office today at 2:21 p.m. PDT. The launch was from Space Launch Complex Four East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. "Score another Mission Success for the U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin Titan IV team," said G. Thomas Marsh, president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company-Astronautics Operations. "Thanks to all of the companies and organizations that contribute to the Titan IV team, we can be proud of orbiting another important national security payload for the NRO."

This was the 33rd Titan IV launch overall. Eleven Titan IVs have been launched from Vandenberg, 22 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Titan IV, the nation's largest, most powerful expendable launch vehicle, is built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company-Astronautics Operations in Denver, Colo. The Titan IV B is capable of boosting payloads weighing 38,800 pounds into low-Earth polar orbit, 47,800 pounds into low-Earth equatorial orbit, or more than 12,700 pounds into geosynchronous orbit.

This was the third Titan IV B launch this year. The earlier launches were from Cape Canaveral including a Titan IV B flight Feb. 27, carrying a Milstar II military communications satellite and a Titan IV B mission Aug. 6, carrying a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite used to provide early warning of missile launches worldwide. The next Titan IV B is scheduled for launch in January 2002 from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Lockheed Martin is under contract to the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, El Segundo, Calif., to complete the launch of 39 vehicles. The contract will extend into 2003. As prime contractor and systems integrator, the company builds the first and second stages and provides launch services. Titan IV provides the principal access to space for critical national security payloads launched from both coasts.

Other members of the Titan IV contractor team and their responsibilities include: GenCorp Aerojet Propulsion Division, Sacramento, Calif., liquid rocket engines; ATK Thiokol Propulsion, Magna, Utah, solid rocket motor upgrade; The Boeing Company, Huntington Beach, Calif., payload fairing; and Honeywell Space Systems, Clearwater, Florida, advanced guidance.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, headquartered in Denver, Colo., is one of the major operating units of Lockheed Martin Corporation. Space Systems designs, develops, tests, manufactures and operates a variety of advanced technology systems for military, civil and commercial customers. Chief products include a full-range of space launch systems, ground systems, remote sensing and communications satellites for commercial and government customers, advanced space observatories and interplanetary spacecraft, fleet ballistic missiles and missile defense systems.

Julie Andrews Joan Underwood
Phone: (321)853-1567 Phone:(303)971-7398
Pager: (800)722-7717 Pager:(800)745-8198
julie.c.andrews@lmco.com joan.b.underwood@lmco.com