The Titan IIIE or Titan 3E, also known as Titan III-Centaur was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 expendable launch system

Expendable launch system

An expendable launch system is a launch system that uses an expendable launch vehicle to carry a payload into space. The vehicles used in expendable launch systems are designed to be used only once , and their components are not recovered for re-use after launch...

, launched seven times between 1974 and 1977. It was used to launch several high-profile NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

 missions, including the Voyager

Voyager program

The Voyager program is a U.S program that launched two unmanned space missions, scientific probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment of the late 1970s...

 and Viking

Viking program

The Viking program consisted of a pair of American space probes sent to Mars, Viking 1 and Viking 2. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts, an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars from orbit, and a lander designed to study the planet from the surface...

 planetary probes, and the joint West German

West Germany

West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990....

-US Helios

Helios probes

Helios-A and Helios-B , were a pair of probes launched into heliocentric orbit for the purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany and NASA, the probes were launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 10, 1974,...

 spacecraft.

The Titan IIIE was a three stage rocket, derived from the Titan IIID

Titan IIID

The Titan IIID or Titan 3D was an American expendable launch system, launched twenty two times with KH-9 and KH-11 satellites between 1971 and 1982...

, but with the addition of a Centaur-D

Centaur (rocket stage)

Centaur is a rocket stage designed for use as the upper stage of space launch vehicles. Centaur boosts its satellite payload to geosynchronous orbit or, in the case of an interplanetary space probe, to or near to escape velocity...

 upper stage to increase performance. It was the first Titan rocket to use a Centaur upper stage, which would later be used on the Titan IV

Titan IV

The Titan IV family of space boosters were used by the U.S. Air Force. They were launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. At the time of its introduction, the Titan IV was the "largest unmanned space booster used by the Air Force."The...

. A four stage configuration, with an additional upper stage, a Star-37E, was also available, and was used for the two Helios launches. Star-37E stages were also used on the two Voyager launches, but were considered to be part of the payload rather than the rocket.

All seven launches were conducted from Launch Complex 41

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 41

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41 , previously Launch Complex 41 , is an active launch site at the north end of Cape Canaveral, Florida. The site is currently used by United Launch Alliance for Atlas V launches...

 at Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station is an installation of the United States Air Force Space Command's 45th Space Wing, headquartered at nearby Patrick Air Force Base. Located on Cape Canaveral in the state of Florida, CCAFS is the primary launch head of America's Eastern Range with four launch pads...

.

Launch History

Date/Time (GMT)	S/N		Payload	Outcome	Remarks
	Titan	Centaur
11 February 1974 13:48:02	23E-1	TC-1	Sphinx Sphinx (satellite) Sphinx is the designation of an American test satellite. The Sphinx satellite was the payload for the first Titan IIIE Centaur rocket. The Helios, Viking and Voyager space probes were later launched using this rocket.-External links:*...	Failure	Centaur LOX Lox Lox is salmon fillet that has been cured. In its most popular form, it is thinly sliced—less than in thickness—and, typically, served on a bagel, often with cream cheese, onion, tomato, cucumber and capers...  turbopump Turbopump A turbopump is a gas turbine that comprises basically two main components: a rotodynamic pump and a driving turbine, usually both mounted on the same shaft, or sometimes geared together...  malfunction
10 December 1974 07:11:02	23E-2	TC-2	Helios-1 Helios probes Helios-A and Helios-B , were a pair of probes launched into heliocentric orbit for the purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany and NASA, the probes were launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 10, 1974,...	Successful
20 August 1975 21:22:00	23E-4	TC-4	Viking 1 Viking 1 Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. It was the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission, and until May 19, 2010 held the record for the second longest Mars surface mission of 6 years and 116 days .- Mission :Following...	Successful
9 September 1975 18:39:00	23E-3	TC-3	Viking 2 Viking 2 The Viking 2 mission was part of the American Viking program to Mars, and consisted of an orbiter and a lander essentially identical to that of the Viking 1 mission. The Viking 2 lander operated on the surface for 1,281 Mars days and was turned off on 11 April 1980 when its batteries failed...	Successful
15 January 1976 05:34:00	23E-5	TC-5	Helios-2 Helios probes Helios-A and Helios-B , were a pair of probes launched into heliocentric orbit for the purpose of studying solar processes. A joint venture of the Federal Republic of Germany and NASA, the probes were launched from the John F. Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Dec. 10, 1974,...	Successful
20 August 1977 14:29:44	23E-7	TC-7	Voyager 2 Voyager 2 The Voyager 2 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space...	Successful
5 September 1977 12:56:01	23E-6	TC-6	Voyager 1 Voyager 1 The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722-kilogram space probe launched by NASA in 1977, to study the outer Solar System and eventually interstellar space. Operating for as of today , the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of as of...	Successful

Design