The X-40A vehicle successfully performed a fourth free flight test May 5 at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif. The X-40A was lifted by an Army Chinook helicopter to an altitude of 15,170 feet (nearly 4,625 meters) and released at 7:14 a.m., reaching a speed of 151 feet per second, to complete the test when the wheels rolled to a stop at 7:16 a.m. PDT.

File image from second test flight of X-40A being released from the strongback. Both are attached by tether line to the CH-47. Photo: NASA-DFRC

The free flight demonstrated the vehicle's ability to perform side-to-side maneuvers, as well as its ability to maneuver to a safe landing when released outside the nominal release altitude of 15,000 feet. A series of up to seven free flights is planned.

The X-40A's free flight and landing tests are being conducted as part of NASA's X-37 program, intended to reduce the risk of flight testing the X-37 experimental re-entry vehicle. The X-37 will enable NASA to test advanced technologies in the harsh environment of space and in returning through Earth's atmosphere. The X-40A is an 85 percent scale version of the X-37.

The X-40A test vehicle, on loan from the Air Force, was built for the Air Force by The Boeing Company at its Seal Beach, Calif., facility. It was free flight tested once before, in August 1998 at Holloman Air Force Base in southern New Mexico, for the Air Forcešs Space Maneuver Vehicle program.

Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., 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.