 |
|
 |
Should you wish to contact the
society or require general information please contact ASTRA
using the following Email address: Should you encounter any problems
with this Web
Page please
email: Jim Cast Headquarters,
Washington, DC July 29, 1998 (Phone:
202/358-1779) Dom
Amatore Marshall Space Flight
Center, Huntsville, AL (Phone:
256/544-0031) Barron
Beneski Orbital Sciences
Corp., Dulles, VA (Phone:
703/406-5528) RELEASE:
98-136 X-34 COMPLETES
CRITICAL MILESTONE The first wing
assembly for NASA's X-34 technology demonstrator has
completed qualification tests and has been shipped to the
prime contractor, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, VA,
where it has been mated to the X-34 test article under
construction there. Integration of the
wing assembly with the test article fuselage marks a major
milestone in the program. Flights of the air-launched X-34
are scheduled to begin next year in conjunction with flights
of its larger and more advanced sister ship, the
X-33. The newly qualified
X-34 wing assembly, intended for flight, has been installed,
initially, on a full-scale X-34 test article at Orbital. The
test article will be used for X-34 verification and
certification. This first wing assembly will ultimately fly
aboard one of two flight vehicles also under construction at
Orbital. The sub-orbital X-34
and X-33 vehicles will demonstrate key technologies -- at
high speeds and high altitudes -- leading toward the
development of full scale, commercially operated reusable
launch vehicles after the turn of the century. The ultimate
objective of these efforts is to dramatically reduce the
cost of placing payloads into space.
Click here to return to top of this page
ASTRA Program | ASTRA Home Page | Waverider Home Page | X-Craft
XB-70 | X-15 | X-20 | X-33 | X-34 | X-38 | Future-X
