For Release: May 13, 1996

Dom Amatore
Office of Media Services
(205) 544-0034
Dom.Amatore@msfc.nasa.gov

RELEASE: 96-38

DC-XA First Flight Set For May 17 at White Sands Missile Range

The first test flight of NASA’s Delta Clipper-Experimental Advanced (DC-XA) single stage rocket has been set for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 17 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. A series of five tests are planned through July.

"The purpose of flying the DC-XA is to expose to the rigors of the flight environment the advanced technologies we have installed in the vehicle," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA’s DC-XA program manager at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

"DC-XA will demonstrate the performance of innovations such as a composite hydrogen tank and aluminum lithium oxygen tank, the kind of advances that will be needed for development of a single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle."

The DC-XA is part of NASA’s Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Program, whose aim is to demonstrate single-stage-to-orbit technologies, thus reducing the risk of developing a commercially operated reusable launch vehicle.

In its first flight test, planned to be one minute in duration, the DC-XA will lift off vertically and climb to an altitude of 800 feet before traveling laterally 350 feet and descending base first, using the thrust of its four engines to brake its descent. As the flight series continues, each test will become longer and more complex. Each flight experiment incrementally increases the stresses on the advanced technology components in order to gain understanding of their performance.

A rapid turn around between flights also is scheduled to demonstrate the reusable rocket’s aircraft-like operability and maintainability by a small support group.

The U.S. Air Force’s Phillips Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, manages flight test operations.

Viewing of the test flight is not available to the general public. News media representatives may attend by requesting accreditation in advance from the Public Affairs Office, Building 122, White Sands Missile Range, NM 88002 (Fax 505/678-7174).