Integrate-Transfer-Launch complex

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Launch of the MOL prototype from LC-40 in 1966, with the ITL complex in the foreground. SMCB is at the front, the Vertical Integration Building in the middle, SIB to its left, and SMAB at the rear towards the launch pads

The Integrate-Transfer-Launch Complex (ITL) was a group of buildings and two launch sites on the Titan III Road and the ITL Causeway at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station built in the early 1960s for supporting Titan IIIA launches. Later, it was also used for other Titan III variants, as well as the Commercial Titan III, and Titan IV. The buildings were constructed on three artificial islands in the lagoon known as Banana River.[1]

Main ITL facilities included:

Titan III assembly

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The Titan IVB leaves SMARF to be integrated onto the launch pad with the Centaur stage and payload

The Titan IIIA (core vehicle) components were received, inspected, erected and checked out in the Vertical Integration Building (VIB). The core was erected on a mobile transporter/thrust mount which could be moved from one area of the ITL to another by means of a double-track railroad system.

If the mission required a Titan IIIC booster, the completely checked out core vehicle was moved to the Solid Motor Assembly Building (SMAB) where two solid rocket motors were attached. The completed vehicle was then moved to one of the two launch pads, where the payload was installed, and the vehicle readied for launch approximately five days later.

For the Titan IVB, a new Solid Motors Assembly and Readiness Facility (SMARF) was built in the early 1990s, capable of handling the larger solid fuel boosters. The rocket also had its Centaur stage installed on the launchpad, unlike the Titan III.

References

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  1. ^ "Cape Canaveral Space Force Museum". ccspacemuseum.org. Retrieved 2025-10-01.
  2. ^ "Launch Complex 42". Air Force Space and Missile Museum. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2025.