X-Plane Test a Success


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	X-Plane Test a Success By NASA Marshall Space Flight Center posted: 03:15 pm ET 14 March 2001

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The X-40A was lifted by an Army Chinook helicopter today at 11:29 a.m. EST (16:29 GMT) and completed the free flight at 12:38 p.m. EST (17:38 GMT) reaching an altitude of 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) above ground level at Edwards Air Force Base.

The X-40A space maneuverable vehicle has been tested in the atmosphere for its ability to be brought down and landed remotely. Watch a video of another X-40A test performed in 1998.

Flight objectives include validation of Computed Air Data Systems (CADS), which will be used in the flight control system of the X-37 experimental reusable launch vehicle. Other test points are: in-flight performance evaluation of Honeywell SIGI Space Integrated Global Positioning System Inertial Navigation System, test of control room operations, and flight test of guidance, navigation and control software.

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The Boeing-built X-40A is on loan from the Air Force, which successfully released it from a helicopter once in 1998. NASA is using the X-40A to test the shape, guidance and other systems for the X-37, which eventually will be launched into space and return autonomously to test technologies for reusable launch vehicles.

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, NASA's lead center for space transportation systems development, manages the X-37. Dryden Flight Research Center is responsible for the X-37/X-40A flight test activities.