Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC July 29, 1998
(Phone: 202/358-1779)

Dom Amatore
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone: 256/544-0031)

Barron Beneski
Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, VA
(Phone: 703/406-5528)

RELEASE: 98-136

X-34 COMPLETES CRITICAL MILESTONE

     The first wing assembly for NASA's X-34 technology demonstrator has completed qualification tests and has been shipped to the prime contractor, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, VA, where it has been mated to the X-34 test article under construction there.

     Integration of the wing assembly with the test article fuselage marks a major milestone in the program. Flights of the air-launched X-34 are scheduled to begin next year in conjunction with flights of its larger and more advanced sister ship, the X- 33.

     The newly qualified X-34 wing assembly, intended for flight, has been installed, initially, on a full-scale X-34 test article at Orbital. The test article will be used for X-34 verification and certification. This first wing assembly will ultimately fly aboard one of two flight vehicles also under construction at Orbital.

     The sub-orbital X-34 and X-33 vehicles will demonstrate key technologies -- at high speeds and high altitudes -- leading toward the development of full scale, commercially operated reusable launch vehicles after the turn of the century. The ultimate objective of these efforts is to dramatically reduce the cost of placing payloads into space.

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