Titan II version
Titan II Titan II GLV
The human-rated Titan II used as the launch vehicle for Project Gemini. It flew twelve times between April 1964 and November 1966, all successfully, from Launch Complex 19 at Cape Canaveral.
- April 8, 1964
- First launch
- 3,580 kg
- LEO capacity
- No
- Reusable
History
From silo to crewed pad
NASA picked the Titan II for Gemini because it was simple: storable hypergolic propellants, two stages and an established production line. The obstacle was the longitudinal oscillation nicknamed "pogo", tolerable in a missile but not with a crew aboard. After a tug of war between NASA, the Air Force and the contractors, standpipes were added to the first stage and baffled injectors to the second until vibration fell to acceptable levels.
The Gemini launcher
The GLV also carried redundant guidance and control systems and a malfunction detection system wired to the capsule's ejection seats. It stood about 33 metres, weighed some 154 tonnes at liftoff and placed a little under four tonnes in low orbit — exactly what the two-seat Gemini spacecraft needed.
Twelve for twelve
Between the uncrewed Gemini 1 in April 1964 and Gemini 12 in November 1966, the Titan II GLV completed twelve launches without a single failure, ten of them crewed. On that record of reliability rested the orbital rendezvous, docking and spacewalking techniques that made Apollo possible. With Gemini over, the variant never flew again.