Rocket-launch vehicle to be restored in Ohio

Associated Press

DAYTON, Ohio

Restoration experts at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in southwest Ohio are launching their biggest project yet.

A Titan 4B space launch vehicle that has been sitting in gigantic pieces in a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base hangar near Dayton is being prepared for restoration efforts. It will be displayed in the museum’s fourth building, slated to open in 2016.

The Titan 4B stood more than 200 feet tall, and just one of its solid rocket motor units weighs 75,000 pounds.

A restoration supervisor says it will be the largest artifact ever restored there. Supervisor Greg Hassler says staffers must figure out how to assemble it for display horizontally.

The Titan rocket family was a critical component of U.S. space efforts for nearly 50 years from 1959.