spacetoday.net: X-43A conducts successful test flight

Posted: Sun, Mar 28, 2004, 1:22 PM ET (1822 GMT)
X-43A launch on second flight (NASA/DFRC)

An X-43A, a NASA vehicle designed to test hypersonic technologies, performed a successful test flight Saturday, reaching a speed of Mach 7 during its brief, unmanned flight. The X-43A and its Pegasus-derived booster rocket were deployed from a B-52 off the California coast at about 5:00 pm EST (2200 GMT) Saturday. The booster accelerated the X-43A to Mach 7 at an altitude of nearly 29,000 meters before separating. The X-43A then ignited its air-breathing scramjet engine, using liquid hydrogen as fuel, for a brief ten-second mission, after which the vehicle glided for several minutes before crashing into the Pacific Ocean as planned. The flight was the second for the X-43A program, after the initial flight failed in June 2001 when the booster rocket lost control several seconds into the flight. A third and final X-43A flight is tentatively planned for later this year. However, NASA cancelled a follow-on program, the X-43C, earlier in the month as part of an effort to reorganize its research programs to better fit the needs of the new exploration initiative.