Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 18, 1993                   TAG: 9308180064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WHITE SANDS MISSILE RANGE, N.M.                                LENGTH: Short

EXPERIMENTAL ROCKET COULD START REVOLUTION

The experimental rocket's first flight - set for today at White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico - could be as revolutionary as the shuttle's inaugural voyage, proponents say.

The 42-foot-tall, bullet-shaped DC-X is a one-third scale prototype of a single-stage, reusable rocket that would be light enough to reach orbit and return without needing expensive lower stages or boosters that get thrown away on every flight.

And it would fire its engines to land vertically, something that until now has been accomplished only in old science-fiction films.

Aerospace experts say such a reusable, less complicated craft is required if space travel is to become truly affordable and fully exploitable.

In today's scheduled initial flight, the rocket is to take off and rise about 150 feet, hover, then move sideways and land on a different pad. The test is not open to the media.

A second test flight is tentatively set for Aug. 27.

McDonnell Douglas wants to build larger versions of the rocket, but continued funding depends on the program's success. The federal government has provided $60 million for the project and earmarked an extra $5 million for continued flight tests.

Eventually, the contractor hopes to build a 127-foot rocket able to fly orbital or suborbital missions, manned or unmanned, with payloads of about 25,000 pounds.