ROCKWELL SCRAPS PLANS FOR SMALL-LAUNCH SPACECRAFT.

Byline: Daily News

Rockwell has announced plans to withdraw from a joint venture with Orbital Sciences Corp. (OSC) to develop a small, three-stage spacecraft called the X-34.

The X-34 was envisioned as a commercially operated, small-launch vehicle to reduce dramatically the cost of putting lightweight satellites into orbit, and to conduct early technology tests for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's reusable-launch vehicle program.

Both Rockwell and OSC were to have invested $50 million each, with NASA's share of the program fixed at $70 million.

The craft they planned was to consist of a rocket-powered winged booster that would be carried aloft under a jumbo jet, and would itself contain a smaller rocket that would place the payload into orbit.

Friday's announcement came after a series of program reviews prompted by OSC's decision Jan. 22 to advise NASA that the program, as currently structured, was no longer viable, a Rockwell statement said. On Jan. 24, OSC issued stop-work orders to all its X-34 subcontractors, including Rockwell.

Rockwell then joined OSC in a review to determine whether a smaller, less-powerful launch vehicle could meet NASA's technology demonstration requirements while also addressing a viable component of the anticipated launch market. That review indicated that a smaller vehicle would not be commercially successful.

John A. McLuckey, Rockwell's president and chief operating officer for Aerospace and Defense, expressed disappointment that the industry team could not move forward with the program.

"There is an absolute requirement for this nation to develop a low-cost means of delivering payloads to orbit," he said in a statement released by his company. "The X-34 program had great potential to demonstrate critical technologies for NASA while being commercially profitable for the industry partnership."

In February 1995, Rockwell and OSC formed American Space Lines as part of a proposed joint venture to develop and operate the X-34 launch vehicle. For the past year, a team of Rockwell engineers has been working at OSC's Virginia headquarters near Dulles International Airport.

The two proposed prototype spacecraft were to have been built by a work force of 40 to 50 people and were to be tested at Edwards Air Force Base beginning in late 1997.

McLuckey said Rockwell remains committed to NASA's "reusable launch vehicle." He said the firm will continue to make substantial investments in the X-33 program, which has been proposed as a spacecraft that could take off and land like an airplane, and would replace the space shuttle.