Feb 282010
Now that the X-37 is back in the news, here are some photos of a large display model of it. These shots were taken at Marshall Space Flight Center back in 2005.
Wow. Five years ago. The pace of aerospace development is just blistering.
And here are three pics of a similar model on display at the Hunstville airport, from the same expedition.
9 Responses to “X-37”
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Fricken’ awesome thanks!!
Dude; did you see that Robert McCall just died?
53 years and God knows how many billions later, and we finally get… Dyna-Soar.
In your face, Robert McNamara.
Did not know about McCall. A shame.
Scott, you cynic, of course it took awhile, it’s the B version! It has more . . . paint?
The flat out *AMAZING part is that the middle-management kept it going by passing it around to different departments and agencies within the Government as “focuses” changed with the hosting Department/Agency.
I’m figuring at least half the time spent on it was just in the ‘finding-a-new-home, shifting, coming-up-to-speed’ work. Still, we’re talking almost Lottery Wining Odds that it’s made it this far.
It would be the ultimate UCAV, in my book. Eat it, “Tin Man” EDI!
I think the reason the Air Force is keeping so quiet about what it is gonna do is because they do not know what they want to do it with it, but just know they don’t want to lose it.
The X-37 has probably survived only because by the time a politician finds out who is running the program, it has already been handed over to someone else.
Having no life, I just went to the NASA reportb servers and searched for anything related to the X-37. One abstract said that the program ended in 2003. About a quarter of all references are also references to the X-40. Another quarter is pictures: either “artist interpretation” or photos of models. I found only a few (less than ten) reports on the hardware, the aerodynamics, or the engine. Most of the rest of it was reports about what was learned from the X-37, or justifications for it, or something like that.
In 1990 NASA published “Biconic cargo return vehicle with an advanced recovery system. Volume 1- Conceptual design” (CR-186250). That’s one the reports on something that looked a lot like the X-37. When did the program formally start?
I never saw anything about putting a human in it.
Who are they kiddin? The USAF has wanted a manned space-plane since the fifties. Pop off that take-off shroud and you will find a single-seat cockpit under it. Too cool – I want one!