The General Chairman for the 33rd Space Congress is Forrest S. McCartney, a retired Air Force Lieutenant General, and Vice President for Launch Operations of Lockheed Martin Astronautics Launch Operations. Launch Operations is a division of Lockheed
Published in The Brevard Technical Journal (a Florida Today publication)
by Jan Tucker
The General Chairman for the 33rd Space Congress is Forrest S. McCartney, a retired Air Force Lieutenant General, and Vice President for Launch Operations of Lockheed Martin Astronautics Launch Operations.
Launch Operations is a division of Lockheed Martin’s $6.8 billion Space and Strategic Missiles Sector whose programs include the Titan and Atlas expendable launch vehicle programs, the Trident II submarine-launched fleet ballistic missile, and the Milstar military communications satellite system.
McCartney reports to Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, the operating unit that produces the Titan and Atlas vehicles, and modifies existing Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launch vehicles for use in orbital and sub-orbital missions.
McCartney is responsible for the east and west coast launch operations of the Titan and Atlas rockets. His priorities are straightforward, “The name of the game is to have mission success every single time we fly regardless of who our customer is or what payload we may be carrying.”
Lockheed Martin serves both government and commercial customers, whose “rides,” says McCartney, are all processed the same way. “All of us do everything we can to make each mission successful. Anything less than a fully successful mission is a major disappointment and a major cost.”
The Titan and Atlas Programs
Titan IV, the nation’s largest expendable launch vehicle, is capable of placing over 12,000-pound payloads into geosynchronous earth orbit, and 49,000 pounds into low-earth orbit. These rockets were developed and manufactured under contract with the Air Force at the Los Angeles program office of the Space and Missile Center.
The Air Force Space Command’s 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base is served by two Titan IV launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Station. The 30th Space Wing at Vandenburg Air Force Base is served by one Titan IV launch pad. These Air Force organizations oversee the launch operations.
The first of six Air Force Milstar communications satellites built by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Space was placed into orbit by a Titan IV. The Milstar is the world’s most advanced military communications satellite. Milstar is a secure, jam-resistant satellite system that enable U.S. military forces to communicate with each other from any location around the world. Titan IVs are also used to launch other government payloads, many of which are classified in nature.
Prior to their retirement, both Atlas E and Titan II rockets were used as ICBMs. These missiles have been modified to carry satellites into orbit. Lockheed Martin launched the last modified Atlas E to place a weather satellite into orbit.
Titan IIs, also launched only from the west coast, are used to lift payloads ranging between 2,000 and 4,000 pounds into low-earth orbit.
Clementine, a joint DoD and NASA mission, was launched on a Titan IIG to test small spacecraft, subsystems, and sensors in deep space, and to provide lunar mapping over a period of two months. View a Clementine photo of the moon, including animation.
The payload of the next Titan II launch was a weather satellite.
Atlas, an expendable launch vehicle used for commercial and DoD spacecraft, is capable of placing up to 8,000-pound payloads into geosynchronous orbit. Most Atlas launches support the commercial market, although there are government customers, including the Air Force.
SOLO was one of two Atlas launches lifting scientific satellites for NASA. This launch set in place a solar observatory which provides NASA with information on the solar system.
“We have two Atlas pads on the east coast, Space Launch Complex 36, pads A and B, and one pad being activated at Vandenburg on the west coast,” explains McCartney. The newest pad, was part of Space Launch Complex 3. The payload of the first launch was a NASA Earth Observatory System satellite.
Commercial Business is International and Competitive
“Lockheed Martin competes with the rest of the world for its commercial business,” says McCartney. There are two types of commercial payloads. The first included NASA payloads. Lockheed Martin launched two scientific spacecraft for NASA. The other payloads were truly commercial, consisting of commercial satellites used for communications such as direct TV.
The major competitors are the Ariane (launched from French Guiana), the Chinese, and the Russians. Japan has not been involved as much in commercial launches. Commercial customers share two major concerns—reliability and cost. Lockheed Martin drove its costs down to be competitive. To attest to their reliability, they performed 29 successful consecutive launches with the Atlas Centaur.
When asked about the most interesting commercial launch, McCartney responded, “All of our commercial launches are exciting and interesting. We launched an Indonesian satellite which brought many interesting people to our site. We do our very best to make sure customers experience a good ride. We’ve been very pleased with the success of our hardware to this point.”