Posted: Wed, Dec 12, 2001, 2:03 PM ET (1903 GMT)
A last ditch effort to save the X-33 has failed, and the experimental vehicle is in the process of being disassembled, SPACE.com reported Wednesday. The article said that a plan to move the existing X-33 flight hardware to a hangar at the Edwards Air Force Base site where the vehicle would have been launched on suborbital test flights has shelved. That plan, reported by SPACE.com late Sunday, would have involved the Air Force in some way, although details of the plan were never made public. The article published Wednesday says that workers have started disassembling the existing components of the X-33 at a facility in Palmdale, California. Some X-33 hardware may be distributed to NASA field centers and companies involved with the Space Launch Initiative program, although how did would be done is still under discussion.

Related Links:

•  SPACE.com article