X-37 FLIGHT TESTS CONCLUDED SPACEPLANE OPERATED BY COMPUTERS.

Byline: JIM SKEEN Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE -- A pair of successful flights wrapped up the test program for an experimental aircraft demonstrating technologies for future spacecraft, a defense agency spokeswoman said Monday.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's engineless, computer-guided X-37 was released from its mother ship at an altitude of 35,000 feet and flew to a landing at Edwards Air Force Base on Sept. 26.

``The vehicle executed its planned flight profile and touched down at Edwards approximately three minutes later,'' DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker said. ``The vehicle landed 4.5 feet right of the runway centerline and 1,640 feet down the runway. The vehicle stopped one inch left of runway center and 10,975 feet down the runway.''

The X-37 was carried aloft by the Mojave-based Scaled Composites Company's White Knight, the same aircraft that served as the mother ship for the suborbital space flights of designer Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne in 2004.

The flight was the third and final one of the test program. On its first flight, April 7, the X-37 flew flawlessly but was damaged when it rolled off the runway during its landing.

Repairs were made, and the aircraft flew again Aug. 18. In that flight, the X-37 touched down just under five feet off the runway centerline at 943 feet down the runway, only 100 feet off the target landing spot. It rolled to a stop only two inches left of runway center and 10,314 feet down the 15,000-foot runway.

The X-37 was built to test technologies that could be used in future spacecraft, including new thermal-protection systems, composite materials and advanced navigation and control systems. The aircraft was built by a small cadre of Boeing workers in Palmdale.

The X-37 initially was funded under a $173 million contract in 1999, with the costs being shared by NASA, Boeing and the Air Force. The Air Force later dropped out of the program.

Work on the aircraft then continued under a $301 million contract to support a now-canceled effort to develop a manned spacecraft to augment the space shuttle fleet.

DARPA later picked up the sponsorship of the aircraft to aid programs aimed at advancing cost-effective, reliable access to space.

The X-37 was one of three X-plane projects launched during the Clinton administration to test technologies for future spacecraft. The others were canceled after technical difficulties and cost overruns.

james.skeen@dailynews

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The X-37, NASA's experimental aircraft demonstrating technologies for future spacecraft, is installed in a structural-testing facility at Huntington Beach. It was flight-tested at Edwards Air Force Base.