Contact: Dave Drachlis
Media Relations Department
(256) 544-0034
dave.drachlis@msfc.nasa.gov

Leslie Williams
NASA-Dryden
(661) 276-3839
leslie.williams@dfrc.nasa.gov

Erik Simonsen
The Boeing Co.
(562) 797-5473
erik.simonsen@boeing.com

RELEASE: 00-164

Marking a major milestone in the X-37 project, an 85 percent
scale test vehicle of the experimental space plane was
delivered to NASA Friday for flight testing.

The X-40A test vehicle, first built for the Air Force by the
Boeing Co. at its Seal Beach, Calif., facility, and successfully
flight tested at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., was shipped
from Boeing to NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at
Edwards, Calif. The X-37 is managed by NASA’s Marshall
Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. At Dryden, the X-40A
will undergo a series of ground and air tests later this year to
reduce possible risks to the larger X-37 — including a drop
test from a helicopter to check guidance and navigation
systems planned for use in the X-37.

The X-37 is designed to demonstrate technologies in the
orbital and reentry environments for next-generation reusable
launch vehicles that will increase both safety and reliability,
while reducing launch costs from $10,000 per pound to
$1,000 per pound.

The X-37, carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle, is planned
to fly two orbital missions in 2002/2003 to test reusable
launch vehicle technologies.

“Delivery of the X-40A is an important step toward getting us
ready for our first unpowered X-37 test flight in 2001, then
orbital flights,” said Susan Turner, X-

37 project manager at the Marshall Center. “The X-40A tests
at Dryden will ensure that the X-37 mission is safe and
successful.”

“We are extremely proud of our team and the work they have
done to improve and enable delivery of the X-40A to Dryden
Flight Research Center,” said Dick Cervisi, Boeing X-37
program manager. “In order to support the test goals of X-37,
the X-40A has received a number of modifications including
improved instrumentation and telemetry, a new integrated
INS/GPS payload, upgraded power systems, and additional
redundancy for range safety.”

The X-37 government team, led by the Marshall Center,
includes NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View,
Calif.; Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, Tex.;
Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral, Fla.; Goddard
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.; Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va.; Dryden Flight Research Center and
USAF’s Air Force Flight Test Center, both at Edwards Air
Force Base in Edwards, Calif.; and the Space and Missile
Systems Center and the Air Force Research Laboratory in
Albuquerque, N.M. The X-37 industry team is led by Boeing
at Seal Beach.