X-33 LAUNCH SITE DEDICATED; FACILITY TO BE HOST TO SERIES OF LAUNCHES STARTING IN 2000.Byline: Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer Calling it a testament to American ingenuity, NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. and Lockheed Martin For the former company, see . Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) is a leading multinational aerospace manufacturer and advanced technology company formed in 1995 by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta. officials dedicated Friday the launch site for the X-33 rocket plane rocket plane n. 1. An aircraft powered by one or more rocket engines. 2. An aircraft designed to carry and launch rockets. . The $32 million, 30-acre launch site was dedicated in a ceremony that included NASA Administrator Dan Goldin, Lockheed Martin Skunk skunk, name for several related New World mammals of the weasel family, characterized by their conspicuous black and white markings and use of a strong, highly offensive odor for defense. Works President Jack Gordon and U.S. Rep. Howard ``Buck'' McKeon, R-Santa Clarita. The launch site will host a series of X-33 flight tests scheduled to begin in mid-2000. ``This says the ability to dream and execute in America is still alive,'' Goldin said. ``This was built for a third of what the initial estimates were.'' The launch site will be home to the X-33, a high-speed experimental aircraft the Skunk Works is building that will test technologies for a future spaceship called VentureStar. The X-33 is expected to hit speeds of more than 13 times the speed of sound in flights to Utah and Montana. Called the X-33 Flight Operations Center, the launch site is in a remote area in the southeast corner of Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. . The center was built by Sverdrup Corp. in one year. A primary goal in the design of the launch site was to enable service crews to service the X-33 more like an airplane preparing for flight than a rocket getting readied for launch. The idea is to reduce the cost of preparing the vehicle for each flight. The X-33 will rest in a horizontal position horizontal position, n a posture in which the body lies flat and the feet and head remain on the same level. Also called supine. as it is serviced, then be pointed skyward sky·ward adv. & adj. At or toward the sky. sky  wards adv. by a rotating launch mount.
The launch site includes a 9,500-square-foot hangar that rolls on rails to cover the X-33 for servicing and then rolls back for launches. A mission control room was built on a hill about one mile away from the launch pad. The X-33, being built in Palmdale, was originally scheduled to make its first flight this summer, but the schedule was pushed back due to manufacturing difficulties, first with the ramp of the aircraft's engine and then with a liquid hydrogen fuel tank. ``This is not a production program. If you're faint of heart, don't get in an experimental program,'' Goldin said. The X-33 is expected to pave the way for what Goldin called ``a revolution, not an evolution'' in gaining access to space. CAPTION(S): Photo PHOTO (Color) The X-33 space launch site includes a 9,500-square-foot retractable re·tract v. re·tract·ed, re·tract·ing, re·tracts v.tr. 1. To take back; disavow: refused to retract the statement. 2. hangar. |
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