'X-PLANES' RETURN TO EDWARDS.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - After a two-decade gap, revolutionary, experimental ``X-planes'' are returning to Edwards Air Force Base, and an Air Force unit is working to help them fly.

The 15-member Access to Space Office is working on six experimental plane programs with NASA, one space booster operation, and one rocket engine development program. Not since the 1960s has Edwards seen so many X-planes - the heyday of the famous X-15 rocket planes - on its ramp and in development.

It's a change from from the 1980s and 1990s, when plans for new space-related craft got no further than the drawing board.

``It's real exciting getting ready to fly real hardware,'' said Johnny Armstrong, deputy director of ATSO. ``We were getting tired of building briefing charts.''

ATSO provides support to the programs in a variety of ways - engineering assistance, project management, range safety, weather information and other logistical support.

``What we are is the Air Force point of contact for space technology,'' said Lt. Col. Don Thompson, ATSO director.

The most high-profile program the office is working on is the X-33, an experimental aircraft being developed by Lockheed Martin and NASA to test technologies for use on a reusable spaceship.

ATSO helped develop the plan for the construction of the X-33's launch pad, located near Haystack Butte on the southeastern portion of the base. The office also worked on the environmental impact report for the project and helped develop the ``extended range'' of tracking stations that will communicate with the aircraft during flights to Utah and Montana.

The $1.2 billion X-33 program is on an indefinite hold right now, however, because of problems building its liquid hydrogen fuel tanks.

A program that is flying is the X-38, an effort to develop a lifeboat for the International Space Station. NASA is testing three X-38 vehicles as prototypes for an escape pod to fly astronauts safely back to Earth, using a parasail to glide to a soft landing.

ATSO is providing project management and coordinating the recovery of the X-38 vehicles, which are dropped from a modified B-52 bomber.

Other projects the office is involved in include the X-34, the X-43, the X-40A and the X-37. All of the projects are aimed at improving access to space through more efficient spacecraft that are cheaper to fly.

In addition to its work on actual aircraft and rocket programs, the ATSO designed the Aerospace Vehicle Test short course, a four-week course for Edwards' Test Pilot School.

ATSO also will be working on a replacement for the aging B-52 that has been used as a launch platform since the 1960s. A newer model B-52 is being acquired which will be easier to find parts for and to maintain.

The office has existed under various names since the late 1950s with the X-15 program and the X-20 Dynasoar project, which was canceled. Back then, the office was known as the Manned Spacecraft Office.

``They would stand down (shut the office down) and another hypersonic program would come up and they reform it,'' Armstrong said.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Because of problems with construction of its liquid hydrogen fuel tanks, the $1.2 billion X-33 program is on indefinite hold.

(2) An X-38, a prototype for a space station lifeboat, hangs from the wing of a B-52 prior to take off.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer