titan iiib rockets suffered four outright failures, and two partial failures. 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 downrange. it was not possible to determine the cause of the malfunction with certainty, but a fuel line obstruction was believed to be the most likely explanation. 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. on 24 october 1969 ops 8455 was placed into a higher-than-planned orbit by another 23b due to an engine failing to cut off after completing its planned burn, however the payload was able to correct its own orbit.