SPACECRAFT PROGRAM RUNNING ON TIME; OFFICIALS ANTICIPATE X-33 MAKING TEST FLIGHT IN '99.

Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer

The X-33 spacecraft prototype is overweight, but there are no insurmountable obstacles to prevent Lockheed Martin's ``Skunk Works'' from meeting a contract commitment for a first flight in spring 1999, the program manager said Wednesday.

The X-33 is 20 percent overweight - an occurrence that is not uncommon in prototype programs, said Jerry Rising, the Skunks Works X-33 program manager.

``It hurts performance to the point where we have to get the weight out,'' Rising said. ``We will spend the next two to three months to get the weight out.''

In an interview conducted on the one-year anniversary of the National Space and Aeronautics Administration selecting the Skunk Works to build the X-33, Rising said work was progressing well on the spacecraft prototype.

At this point, the X-33 program is in better shape than Lockheed's groundbreaking SR-71 Blackbird spy plane was at a comparable stage in its development, he said.

The major issue being worked is the weight.

In computer analysis, the weight is reducing the X-33's theoretical speed from Mach 15 - 15 times the speed of sound, or about 11,000 mph - to Mach 13. The weight is also shortening the craft's range, falling about 100 miles short of the furthest landing site - Malstrom Air Force Base in Montana - planned for the flight-test program.

Rising said plans call for assembly of the X-33 early next year at U.S. Air Force Plant 42. The rollout will be in early 1999, followed by the first flight in the spring of that year.

While the program is still on target for its NASA contract milestones, the weight issue will cause the program to miss some more ambitious targets the Skunk Works set for itself, Rising said.

The first anniversary of the winning of the X-33 contract was marked by a visit by congressmen Rep. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, whose district includes the X-33 assembly site, and U.S. Rep. Jerry Lewis, R-Redlands.

``You are pioneers in an effort our grandchildren will benefit from,'' McKeon told the X-33 workers.

A wingless, pilotless, wedge-shape craft about the size of a 737 jetliner, the X-33 is intended as the precursor to a new spaceship intended to reduce dramatically the cost of putting cargo into space.

The X-33 is expected to blast off from a launch pad to be built at Edwards Air Force Base. A draft environmental impact statement released last week by NASA found no roadblocks.

Like the space shuttle, the X-33 will be launched vertically and land like an airplane. Unlike the shuttle, however, the X-33 will shed no booster rockets or other parts during flight. The X-33 will not go into orbit, but to the edge of space - about 250,000 feet in altitude.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--color in AV edition only) From left, ``Skunk Works'' President Jack Gordon and Reps. Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon and Jerry Lewis attend Wednesday's ceremony.

(2--ran in AV only--color) Workers inspect the area where an engine will be placed for a prototype reusable spacecraft.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News