The final Titan IVB rocket blasted off from California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base this week, signaling the end of the Titan line that started in 1959. The Titan IVB heavy-lift booster on Oct. 19 launched a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload into orbit. In all, USAF has launched 39 of the Lockheed Martin-built Titan IVs—12 from Vandenberg and 27 from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. The final Cape Titan IVB launch took place on April 29, 2005. Col. Michael Baker, launch programs director for Space and Missile Systems Command, noted that the Titan team was “confident” it would “deliver one final mission success for the nation.”
Amid a high-profile recruiting crisis, Air Force leaders and experts have increasingly noted the challenging long-term trends the service will face in enticing young Americans to sign up—decreasing eligibility to serve, less propensity to do so, and less familiarity with the military. But while those same leaders say there’s no “silver…