Commercial Titan III
The Commercial Titan III, also known as CT-3 or CT-III, was an American expendable launch system, developed by Martin Marietta during the late 1980s and flown four times during the early 1990s. It was derived from the Titan 34D, and was originally proposed as a medium-lift expendable launch system for the US Air Force, who selected the Delta II instead. Development was continued as a commercial launch system, and the first rocket flew in 1990. Due to higher costs than contemporary rockets such as the Ariane 4, orders were not forthcoming, and the CT-3 was retired in 1992.

The Commercial Titan III differed from the Titan 34D in that it had a stretched second stage, and a larger payload fairing to accommodate dual satellite payloads.

All four launches occurred from LC-40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The first carried two communications satellites, Skynet 4A and JCSAT-2, and was launched at 00:07 UTC on 1 January 1990, which was 19:07 local time on 31 December 1989, making it the only orbital launch to have occurred in different years between the launch site and UTC. The launch received the International Designator 1990-001, using the UTC date.

The second launch occurred on 14 March, and carried the Intelsat 603 satellite. The rocket's second stage failed to separate, and the payload could only be released from the rocket by means of jettisoning its kick motor. It was later visited by , on mission STS-49. Astronauts attached a new kick motor, which raised the satellite into a geosynchronous transfer orbit, as had originally been planned.

The third launch, on 23 June, carried Intelsat 604, and was successful. There was no Commercial Titan III launch in 1991, due to maintenance work at Launch Complex 40.

The final flight of the Commercial Titan III occurred on 25 September 1992, and placed NASA's Mars Observer spacecraft into heliocentric orbit, by means of a Transfer Orbit Stage.
Q15078724
expendable launch system
Concept
Q626800
Martin Marietta
ORG
Q1187342
Titan 34D
MISC
Q11223
US Air Force
Concept
Q49538
Delta II
MISC
Q18387
Ariane 4
MISC
None
LC-40
UNK
Q334465
Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
LOC
Q149918
communications satellite
Concept
Q1751266
Skynet 4A
Concept
Q16061342
JCSAT-2
MISC
Q941023
local time
LOC
Q54228
International Designator
ORG
Q592346
Intelsat 603
MISC
Q618844
kick motor
Concept
Q842278
STS-49
MISC
Q1138649
geosynchronous transfer orbit
Concept
Q14174490
Intelsat 604
MISC
Q23548
NASA's
Concept
Q634772
Mars Observer
MISC
Q737809
heliocentric orbit
Concept
Q7336608
Transfer Orbit Stage
MISC
Q5152536
Commercial Titan III
MISC
Q5152536
Commercial Titan III
MISC
Q5152536
Commercial Titan III
MISC
Q5152536
Commercial Titan III
MISC
1980-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1980
DATE
1990-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1990
DATE
1990-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1990
DATE
1992-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1992
DATE
1990-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1 January 1990
DATE
1989-12-31T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
31 December 1989
DATE
1990-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1990
DATE
1991-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1991
DATE
1992-09-25T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
25 September 1992
DATE
-3^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-3
NUMBER
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34
NUMBER
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4
NUMBER
-3^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-3
NUMBER
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34
NUMBER
-40^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-40
NUMBER
+4^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
4
NUMBER
-2^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-2
NUMBER
00^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
00
NUMBER
+07^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
07
NUMBER
+19^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
19
NUMBER
+07^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
07
NUMBER
-001^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-001
NUMBER
+14^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
14
NUMBER
-49^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
-49
NUMBER
+23^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
23
NUMBER
+40^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
40
NUMBER
manufacturer
subclass of
UTC date of spacecraft launch
space launch vehicle