The leftovers of a NASA-industry attempt to build a single-stage-to-orbit prototype have been sent to the tool shed.

In an 11^th hour decision late December, the Air Force decided that the framework of the X-33 suborbital space plane would be preserved. The craft is to become a "hangar queen", according to SPACE.com sources. The idea now is to use it as a possible test structure for a future 2^nd generation reusable launch vehicle, or for military space plane work.

The picked-over carcass of the X-33 will be stuffed inside a specially built shed at Edwards Air Force Base, California. That roll-back desert hangar -- in which the rocket plane was to be readied for flight -- is part of the specially built launch site from which the vehicle would have taken to the skies in a series of sub-orbital test shots.

Through a cooperative agreement, Lockheed Martin and NASA had worked together on the X-33 since July 1996. NASA scuttled the X-33 project in early 2001. Over $1.2 billion had been spent on the effort, with NASA shelling out 70 percent of the funds prior to the space plane's cancellation.

"The component partsanything on the vehicle that was of value have been removed. NASA, Lockheed Martin and other contractor partners are still negotiating who gets what hardware," Andrews told Space.com.

Late last year, NASA, industry, and military officials agreed that the entire X-33 would be torn apart. "It was a kind of surprise to usa change of direction," Andrews said.

While the company is moving onward on next generation space transportation concepts, Andrews added, having the X-33 remain somewhat intact is less painful for those who worked on the project.

Michael Braukus, a NASA spokesman at the space agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., said, "ownership determination and the final disposition of the X-33 parts will be decided by the end of February."