NASA successfully flies X-40A over Mohave desert

X-37

(CNN) -- NASA engineers have completed the first free-fall flight of the unmanned X-40A, to test systems for a reusable spacecraft.

The 22-foot-long experimental space plane is an 85 percent scale model of the X-37, which eventually will be launched aboard the space shuttle and return to Earth like an airplane.

The X-40A was released Wednesday from an Army helicopter at 15,000 feet and glided to a perfect touchdown at Edwards Air Force Base, California, the Marshall Space Flight Center said in a statement. NASA technicians used the flight to test several onboard navigation, guidance and control systems.

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"These tests with the X-40A will provide us a great deal of valuable data applicable to the X-37," said Dick Cervisi, a program manager with Boeing's Phantom Works unit.

NASA plans at least six more flight tests over the next year.

The X-37 program is part of the space agency's effort to move to next-generation, reusable launch vehicles, in order to increase safety and reliability. NASA also wants to reduce the cost of launching cargo into orbit, from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound.

Earlier this month, NASA stopped development on the problem-plagued X-33, which was planned as the low-cost successor for the aging space shuttle fleet.

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'X' marks the future: NASA moves forward with space-planes
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NASA's rocket plane takes first test ride
June 29, 1999
With fanfare, NASA rolls out space plane prototype
April 30, 1999

Marshall Space Flight Center
X-37 Fact Sheet

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