Jim Cast

Headquarters, Washington, DC April 22, 1999

(Phone: 202/358-1779)

Leslie A. Mathews
Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA
(Phone: 661/258-3893)

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

Barron Beneski
Orbital Sciences Corporation, Dulles, VA
(Phone: 703/406-5000)

NOTE TO EDITORS: N99-21

NEW X-34 SPACEPLANE TO BE UNVEILED AT DRYDEN

NASA will unveil a new reusable, robotic rocket plane in

the high desert of California next week.

The first of three X-34 demonstration vehicles will be

"rolled out" at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center,
Edwards, CA, on Friday, April 30, opening an era of low-cost
reusable space planes.

The X-34, a single-engine rocket plane, will fly itself

using onboard computers. The vehicle is approximately 58
feet long, 28 feet wide at wing tip and 11 feet tall from
the bottom of the fuselage to the top of the tail. The X-34
will launch from an L-1011 airliner and will reach altitudes
of up to 250,000 feet and travel up to eight times faster
than the speed of sound.

Flights of the X-34 will test many new technologies:

composite material structures, composite tanks and new,
integrated avionics. The vehicle also will demonstrate the
ability to fly through inclement weather, land horizontally
at a designated landing site, and safely abort during
flight. The planned 27 flights within a year will
demonstrate the program's ability to fly within 24 hours of
its last mission, using a small ground crew.
 The X-34 has completed ground vibration tests, ensuring
there will be no potentially hazardous vibrations during
flight. The L-1011 and the X-34 prototype were tested
separately and together at Dryden.

After the rollout, the X-34 will be mounted underneath

the L-1011 and flown on "captive-carry" flights to allow the
Federal Aviation Administration to approve modifications to
the L-1011. When powered flights begin for X-34, the
demonstrator will be carried aloft and separate from the L-
1011 before igniting its rocket engine. Following the
powered portion of flight, the unpiloted X-34 will land
horizontally, initially on a dry lakebed and eventually on a
runway.

The April 30 rollout, which is open to the media, will

air live on NASA Television. A press conference will be held
at 1 p.m. EDT, and the rollout ceremony will take place at 2
p.m. EDT. For accreditation and more information, reporters
should contact Leslie Mathews at Dryden Public Affairs on
(661) 258-3893.

NASA TV is available on GE-2, transponder 9C at 85

degrees west longitude, with vertical polarization.
Frequency is on 3880.0 megahertz, with audio on 6.8
megahertz.

In a cooperative program among NASA Centers, Dryden

will provide flight-testing and ground vibration testing.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, manages
the X-34 project. Orbital Sciences Corporation Dulles, VA,
is designing, developing and testing the vehicle.

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