Between 1993 and 1996, the McDonnell Douglas DC-X, also known as the "Delta Clipper", conducted twelve low-altitude suborbital test launches to verify the configuration and handling of the uncrewed single-stage-to-orbit Delta Clipper design, which was proposed to the United States Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for use as a reuseable launch vehicle.[1] Claimed as the first rocket to conduct a vertical landing on Earth, the DC-X was a one-third scale demonstrator for the proposed operational Delta Clipper vehicle.[2]
After the first three flights Strategic Defense Initiative Organization funding for the test project was cancelled;[3] the remaining test program was conducted by NASA and the Advanced Research Projects Agency.[4] Following the eighth test flight, the vehicle was transferred fully to NASA and the vehicle was modified to DC-XA configuration,[5] also known as "Clipper Graham" after General Daniel O. Graham who had died in 1995 after supporting the Delta Clipper project.[6]
Of the overall test program, ten of the vehicle's launches were fully successful; the fifth test flight was aborted early in the flight following an on-board explosion but the vehicle was successfully recovered. The twelfth and final flight saw one of the vehicle's landing legs fail to extend; on landing, when the vehicle tipped over onto its unsupported corner, a liquid oxygen tank ruptured and exploded, the ensuing fire destroying the modified DC-XA vehicle and ending the program. Despite the loss the program was considered overall to have been a success.[1]
- ^ a b McLaughlin, Hailey Rose (29 October 2019). "DC-X: The NASA Rocket That Inspired SpaceX and Blue Origin". Discover. Kalmbach Publishing. Archived from the original on 20 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Rocket has good test flight". Tampa Bay Times. Tampa. 20 August 1993. Archived from the original on 21 December 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Burdick, Alan (7 November 1993). "Pie In The Sky?". The New York Times. New York. pp. 6–46. Archived from the original on 26 May 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Delta Clipper Test Program Off To Flying Start". McDonnell Douglas via NASA. 20 June 1994. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ "Will The Delta Clipper Scuttle The Shuttle?". Bloomberg. New York. 8 July 1996. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
- ^ Lerner, Preston (August 2010). "Black Day at White Sands". Air & Space Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Archived from the original on 30 September 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
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