The fuel tank for NASA's X-33 experimental space plane was found to be damaged Wednesday after a test at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, a NASA spokesman said.
"We have discovered some damage to the hydrogen tank after a test," said Marshall spokesman Dominic Amatore.
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s X-33 is a half-scale model of a possible successor to the space shuttle.
It is designed as a reusable, single-stage, vertical-launch space plane that eventually could evolve into a commercially owned and operated craft called the VentureStar.
The program has fallen more than a year behind schedule and has racked up hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overruns.
The fuel tank that was damaged holds cryogenic liquid hydrogen, Amatore said.
Meanwhile, engine tests of the X-33's engine, which have been performed at NASA's Stennis Space Center in southern Mississippi, have gone well, a Stennis spokesman said.
An engine test on October 27 lasted five seconds and pushed the engine to 80 percent power, said Stennis spokesman Paul Foerman.
The next test of the engine, scheduled for Saturday, is planned to be the longest yet -- it is expected to run for ten seconds at 70 percent power.
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