[1] The Titan rocket family was established in October 1955, when the Air Force awarded The Martin Company a contract to build an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM).

More than 140 Titan II ICBMs, once the vanguard of America's strategic deterrent force, were built.

[citation needed] While the KH-8 was the original raison d'être for the Titan IIIB's existence, as well as its primary payload, the booster was also used for Jumpseat SIGINT satellites and military comsats.

The first failure occurred on 26 April 1967 during the launch of a Gambit 3 satellite when the second stage suffered a sudden thrust decay which left it unable to achieve orbital velocity, sending the Agena and GAMBIT into the Pacific Ocean some 400 miles (644 km) downrange.

Martin-Marietta had no answers except to suggest implementing better quality control measures during assembly of the Titan vehicles.

The next launch, on 20 June 1967 was a partial failure; due to a problem with the protective skirt on the second stage, a lower-than-planned orbit was achieved.

Although it had been assumed debris would land near South Africa, pieces turned up in faraway Great Britain a few months later.

The launch of KH-8 #39 on 26 June 1973 also failed to orbit when the Agena had a fuel valve failure, preventing engine start.

[12] A launch of a Jumpseat satellite on 24 April 1981 was a partial failure when the Agena failed to separate.