Transtage

---

title: "Transtage" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["rocket-stages", "titan-(rocket-family)"] description: "American upper rocket stage used on Titan III" topic_path: "general/rocket-stages" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transtage" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American upper rocket stage used on Titan III ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox rocket stage"]

Field	Value
image	Transtage_rocket_stage.jpg
caption	A Transtage
country-origin	United States
manufacturer	Martin Marietta
rockets	Titan III
height	4.57 m
diameter	3.05 m
mass	12247 kg
name	Engine details
engines	2 AJ10-138
thrust	8000 lbf each
fuel	Aerozine 50 /
burntime	440 seconds
SI	311 isp
::

|image = Transtage_rocket_stage.jpg |caption = A Transtage |country-origin = United States |manufacturer = Martin Marietta |rockets = Titan III |height = 4.57 m |diameter = 3.05 m |mass = 12247 kg | name = Engine details |engines = 2 AJ10-138 |thrust= 8000 lbf each |fuel=Aerozine 50 / |burntime = 440 seconds |SI = 311 isp

Transtage, given the United States Air Force designation SSB-10A, was an American upper stage used on Titan III rockets, developed by Martin Marietta and Aerojet.

History

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Titan_III_Transtage_burn.jpg" caption="Artist's conception of a Titan III Transtage burn"] ::

Transtage was developed in anticipation of a requirement to launch military payloads to geostationary orbit; a contract for development of the stage was issued on 20 August 1962. Transtage used a pressure-fed two-chamber configuration, using Aerozine 50 fuel and nitrogen tetroxide as oxidizer; the thrust chambers were gimbaled for steering and each produced 8000 lbf of thrust. The design specification required up to three restarts during the first six hours of a mission.

Forty-seven Titan III launches are known to have used Transtage upper stages; of those, three are known to have suffered launch failures. The first launch, boosted by a Titan IIIA, occurred on 1 September 1964; the Transtage failed to pressurize, resulting in premature engine cutoff, and a failure to reach orbit. The second launch, on 10 December, was successful, and all ensuing launches used the Titan IIIC launch vehicle. The last launch of a Transtage was on 4 September 1989, boosted by a Titan 34D rocket.

References

References

1. Wade, Mark. "AJ10-138". Encyclopedia Astronautica.
2. Foradori, Paolo. (2017). "Arms Control and Disarmament: 50 Years of Experience in Nuclear Education". Palgrage Macmillan.
3. (2016-12-28). "Titan Transtage".
4. Hunley, J.D.. (2007). "The Development of Propulsion Technology for U.S. Space-Launch Vehicles, 1926-1991". Texas A&M University Press.
5. "Transtage".
6. Heyman, Jos. (17 March 2003). "Martin Marietta SSB-10 Transtage". Designation-Systems.
7. "Transtage 1, 2, 5".

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::