Feb. 3, 2001
Titan I rocket at Titusville High could be scrapped
Correction
The Atlas was the United States' first intercontinental ballistic
missile. This story orginially contained incorrect information.
By Marilyn Meyer
FLORIDA TODAY
TITUSVILLE, Fla. - This is a story about a sad little rocket that
could not get off the ground.
Not in the late 1950s when the Titan I was built.
Not in 1971 when it was trucked to Titusville and laid on its
side in brackets in front of Titusville High School.
And not in 1996 when a campaign to Save The Rocket ignited
with a blitz of fundraising activities and then sputtered for
five years.
The sagging, peeling and rusting rocket might be doomed to
a specialized scrap pile.
This week, the Titusville Noon Kiwanis Club, which in 1996
volunteered to take title to the rocket and raise money to refurbish
it, asked the city to take back the rocket. The City Council
agreed to take it back.
"It's become an eyesore," said Bob Filichia, Kiwanis president.
"We've had years and years of fruitless fund-raising."
And, Filichia said, since the rocket committee chairman, Dick
Knopf, moved away, the club has no one willing to lead the effort.
"I think it is incumbent on us to take it back," Mayor Larry
Bartley said. "The Kiwanis tried hard to raise the money and
just couldn't do it. We need to find a way to refurbish it or
dispose of it."
"That rocket is a piece of history," said W.O. Brown, a retired
NASA engineer who served on the committee. "It's a full Titan
I with warhead. There are only two others left that we know
of. We did everything we could think of to raise the money but
we were unable to do it."
Cost estimates to refurbish the rocket were in the $50,000
to $70,000 range four years ago, said Councilman Carl Hughes,
who as a Titusville Jaycees member, helped with fund-raising.
Even scrapping it will be complicated and expensive because
of the hazardous materials that were used in the rocket, he
said.
Hughes suggested, and the Council agreed, that the city send
out requests for proposals to refurbish or dispose of the rocket,
setting a six-month deadline.
"It is deteriorating rapidly," City Manager Tom Harmer said.
"It's very unsafe. Something needs to be done."
City staff was instructed to contact the Smithsonian Institution
and ask for help or suggestions. The Smithsonian owned the rocket
and loaned it to the city in 1971. In 1996, the Smithsonian
contacted the city, saying Boca Raton wanted the rocket and
planned to refurbish it.
That prompted Titusville residents to start a petition drive
to Save The Rocket, which garnered 2,200 signatures. The Smithsonian
offered to give the rocket to the city. The city accepted it
with the understanding that the Save The Rocket Committee and
the Kiwanis would assume responsibility for it.
In 1996, the committee organized a golf tournament, a 5K run,
a fun day with model rocket launches and a rock concert with
barbecue. And committee members contacted corporations that
have space-related contracts.
In late 1997, fund-raising got a big boost from a former Kennedy
Space Center worker who donated $5,000, challenging corporations
and residents to match the donation. That donation brought the
fund tally to $11,000 but the challenge did not spark much response.
Filichia said the Kiwanis Club has a record of most of the
donors and will contact them to find out if they want their
money back, if they are willing to have the money transferred
to the city if the city refurbishes the rocket, or if they want
the money to go to another Kiwanis project.
A Kiwanis Club committee will decide what to do with small
donations or ticket purchases that cannot be traced, he said.
