LES MISSILES HABITÉS - Titan II - 5 Minutes Pour Parler #57 - Big Universe

Video from the channel AstroKevin, la Chaîne Espace et Astronomie about Titan II, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 9:18. Language: French. Video type: Documentary.

Educational episode about the Titan II: first as a ballistic missile and later as the launch vehicle for the Gemini program and later variants.

In 1958, while the Titan I was still under development, the Martin Company proposed a version using storable propellants that remain liquid at room temperature. They were also hypergolic, meaning they ignite on contact, which simplifies ignition. The Titan II was larger: 31 m tall and 3 m wide, capable of placing 3.6 tonnes into low orbit. As a missile, its range grew from 10,000 to 15,000 km. It remained in service until 1987, with retirement beginning in 1982. Of all its silos, only the one at Green Valley (Arizona) was preserved, opening as a museum in 1986.

In 1963 the Titan II was chosen to launch the Gemini capsules. They weighed about 3.5 tonnes, compared with one tonne for Mercury, and the Atlas could not handle them.

On April 8, 1964, the Titan II GLV launched an uncrewed Gemini for the first time. On January 19, 1965, it repeated this uncrewed, on a suborbital flight to test the heat shield. On March 23, 1965, Gemini 3 carried Gus Grissom and John Young.

The video goes through the following missions: - Gemini 4: first American spacewalk, by Edward White. - Gemini 5: duration record, with Charles Conrad and Gordon Cooper. - Gemini 7 and Gemini 6A: rendezvous in orbit 30 cm apart. - Gemini 8: first docking, with Neil Armstrong and David Scott. - Gemini 9A: mission with serious difficulties. - Gemini 11: docking just 1 h 34 min after liftoff. - Gemini 12: with James Lovell and Edwin Aldrin, it paved the way for the Apollo program.

Finally, it mentions the Titan 23G variant, which launched the Clementine probe to study the Moon and the asteroid Geographos, and continued flying until 2003.