The X-40A touches down at Edwards. Photo: NASA-DFRC

The X-40A vehicle successfully performed a fifth free flight test on May 8 at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, Calif. The X-40A was lifted by an Army Chinook helicopter to an altitude of 15,023 feet (4,579 meters) and released at 6:51 a.m. PDT, reaching a speed of 133 feet per second, to complete the test when the wheels rolled to a stop at 6:53 a.m. PDT.

The vehicle was released off-centerline -- not centered directly over the landing site -- testing the flight computer's ability to maneuver the vehicle to a straight approach to the landing site. Additionally, vehicle performance measurements were made during pitch adjustments -- when the nose is raised, lowered and moved side to side. 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 Force's 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.