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atmospheric vehicle to begin tests NASA Thursday July 24, 1997 The first X-38 atmospheric test
vehicle, which carries applications for future space
vehicles, was shipped today from the Johnson Space Center,
Houston, TX, to the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards,
CA, to begin unpiloted flight tests in July. The X-38 represents an innovative new
spacecraft design as a technology testbed, with possible use
as an International Space Station emergency crew return
"lifeboat." Once operational, the successors to
the X-38 may become the first new piloted spacecraft to
travel to and from orbit in more than 20 years, and the X-38
is being developed at a fraction of the cost of past human
space vehicles. The primary application of the new
spacecraft would be as an International Space Station
"lifeboat," which would be delivered to the station by the
Space Shuttle. The project also aims to develop a design
that could be modified easily for other uses, such as a
possible joint U.S. and European human spacecraft that could
be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster. "Beginning full-scale flight tests is
a big milestone for us that our team has been looking
forward to with a lot of excitement," said X-38 project
manager John Muratore. "No one has ever done anything like
this before -- deploying a parafoil from a lifting body and
flying a lifting body with an all-electric flight control
system -- and there are unknowns. We expect surprises. But
we have done a lot of work to minimize the unknowns, and we
are confident this vehicle can perform well." The atmospheric test vehicle,
designated vehicle 131, is the first of three sub-scale
vehicles largely built at Johnson planned for such testing.
The unpiloted flight testing will begin at Dryden with
"captive carry" flights, during which the vehicle remains
attached to the NASA B-52 aircraft, in July and early
August. The first free-flight drop test of
the vehicle, in which it will be released at an altitude of
25,000 feet, is planned for late August. Similar free-flight
drop testing will continue at Dryden periodically through
late 1999. An unpiloted space flight test is scheduled for
launch aboard a Space Shuttle in the spring of 2000. The
X-38 space flight test vehicle also will be built largely at
Johnson. The X-38 is being developed with an
unprecedented eye toward efficiency, taking advantage of
available equipment and already- developed technology for as
much as 80 percent of the spacecraft's design. The design
uses a lifting body concept originally developed by the Air
Force's X-24A project in the mid-1970s. Following the
jettison of a deorbit engine module, the X-38 would glide
from orbit unpowered like the Space Shuttle and then use a
steerable parafoil parachute for its final descent to
landing. In the early years of the
International Space Station, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft will
be attached to the station as a crew return vehicle. As the
size of the station crew increases, however, a return
vehicle like the X-38 that can accommodate up to six
passengers will be needed.
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