October 27, 2000 X-Press Issue

Volume 42 Issue 11 Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California October 27, 2000

Dryden hosts NACA IX Reunion

NASA Photo by Tom Tschida

Two NASA F-18s pass in front of the X-1E in the front of Building 4800. Former NACA employees observed the event during thier visit to Dryden for a NACA reunion.

By Jay Levine
X-Press Editor

Before NASA research pilots flew rocket-powered aircraft like the X-15, or the lifting body aircraft leading up to Enterprise's Approach and Landing Tests here, an organization seeking to redefine the aeronautical frontier chose to locate in the Mojave Desert.

In the dusty, remote and sparsely populated desert there was a large dry lakebed. A small contingent from the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA) began operations here in 1946 to take advantage of the remote area that was a natural landing site for aircraft.

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New plan sees X-33 launch in 2003

By Jim Cast and Leslie A. Williams
NASA Headquarters and Dryden Public Affairs Specialist

NASA and Lockheed Martin have agreed on a plan to go forward with the X-33 space plane program, to include aluminum fuel tanks for the vehicle's hydrogen fuel, a revised payment schedule and a target launch date in 2003.

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