NASA'S READY TO GO BEYOND SPACE SHUTTLE CRAFT MAY BE FLYING BY 2010.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

PALMDALE - America's new effort to build a next-generation manned spacecraft has a running start - a technology demonstration program already in the works, augmented by knowledge gained from previous attempts.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is looking to have its orbital space plane ready for use as an emergency rescue vehicle for the International Space Station by 2010. By 2012, NASA hopes to have a booster rocket rated safe for humans so craft can take astronauts to the space station.

``We based the schedule on a number of programs, including the space shuttle,'' space plane program manager Dennis Smith said in an interview last week. ``Our schedule is a year less than the shuttle. We've been working on it for the last couple of years in the previous space launch initiative. The shuttle was doing something for the first time from scratch.''

The space launch initiative, begun two years ago, was aimed at developing technologies for a new reusable spacecraft by 2010. In November, NASA unveiled an overhauled space launch initiative, which included the development of the orbital space plane, improvements to the space shuttle fleet and a technology development program for the next generation of space launch systems.

Study work on the orbital space plane was already under way when the revamped space launch initiative was announced, and that work will carry forward, NASA officials say. The study work is being conducted by aerospace companies - Boeing, Lockheed Martin and a team of Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. and Northrop Grumman.

Each company is working on at least two or three possible designs. Concepts being looked at included modified Apollo moon program capsules, winged spacecraft and wingless spacecraft called lifting bodies, a design studied in depth with experimental aircraft at Edwards Air Force Base in the 1960s and 1970s.

``We're a long way from any of the contractors picking a shape,'' Smith said. ``We didn't dictate a shape. That would dictate a design ahead of its time.''

Each of the three teams conducting studies was awarded a contract to test different technologies the orbital space plane would be required to have. Boeing will test re-entry and automated landing with two X-37 experimental craft at Edwards. Lockheed Martin will test systems for saving the crew if a launch goes bad. Orbital Sciences Corp. will test automated systems for spacecraft to rendezvous in space - without a human pilot - by launching a satellite to meet with another satellite in low Earth orbit.

NASA awarded a $301 million contract to Boeing's Phantom Works division in November to continue the X-37 work, which began in 1999 to test technologies for future spacecraft. The money will pay to continue development of the X-37 test craft now about two-thirds complete in Palmdale and to build a more advanced version to be tested in space.

Engineless, controlled by computer and 27 1/2 feet long, the first X-37 test craft will be dropped from a modified B-52 bomber over Edwards to show how it lands. Those tests are scheduled for next year.

At least one orbital test mission, planned to occur in 2006, would also end at Edwards. For the orbital tests, the second X-37 craft would be launched atop a booster rocket.

For the rocket launch, the X-37 would probably be covered in some type of shroud to protect it, Smith said. The X-37 would stay in orbit for a short duration and then make its return to Edwards.

NASA has not determined yet how much it will cost to develop and build the Orbital Space Plane. During the next few months, NASA will be working on developing reliable cost estimates that it can present to Congress.

NASA is planning to select a builder next year from among the companies already working on the project.

NASA wants a spacecraft that is safer than the space shuttle and is low-maintenance, so that its upkeep does not distract astronauts from their work on the International Space Station.

NASA officials say they want to operate the spacecraft at least through 2020, but they also want the contractors to study how to lengthen its service life.

``They have to factor in how it'll be updated over time,'' Smith said.

Rep. Ralph Hall, D-Texas, the ranking Democrat on the House Science Committee, estimated the cost at between $9 billion to $13 billion. Hall criticized NASA for cancelling the X-38 program, an effort aimed at creating a space station ``lifeboat,'' and suggested that NASA use OSP funding to develop an escape system for the space shuttle.

Others in Congress believe it is high time that NASA moved forward with a new spacecraft, since the space shuttles are based on technology and designs from the 1970s.

``It's time to begin the transition to the newest technology for space flight, and I believe a space plane program will take us to the next generation of space travel,'' said Rep. Frank Lucas, R-Oklahoma.