Fifteen years ago on August 18th, the Delta Clipper experimental (DC-X) rocket took its first test flight at White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico - just two years after receiving its funding go-ahead. The DC-X team proved that a small group of talented aerospace engineers and managers, without a burdensome bureaucracy hanging over them, could show that space transportation vehicles could operate with the safety, reliability and reusability of military and commercial aircraft.
The 15th anniversary reunion event and conference, held in Alamogordo, NM from August 17-19, 2008, brought together not only the talented engineers and managers who made it happen. The 120 attendees also included some of the "new space" smaller aerospace companies who are on the forefront and working hard to produce rockets and space vehicles for space tourists, and to carry satellites and cargo into space.
They came to hear about lessons learned from the DC-X team and to work together on issues related to Cheaper Assess to Space (CATS). Among the five workshops held on August 19th, two of them focused on "Private Sector Views on Commercial Sub-orbital Flight Markets" and "Private Sector and NASA Views on Development Needs".
Two currently prominent former DC-Xers who gave speeches at the conference were NASA Administrator Mike Griffin and NASA Ames Research Center Director Pete Worden. Many DC-X heroes - both living and those who have passed on - took their the DC-X expertise and went on to work on other rockets and aerospace projects. One of the men honored at the event was the late Apollo XII and Skylab II astronaut Pete Conrad. After retiring from NASA, he went to work for McDonnell Douglas and was actually the one to control the huge DC-X rocket during test flights with just a computer mouse.
Attendees of the DC-X Team reunion event in Alamogordo gather in front of what's left of the Delta Clipper (DC-X) rocket housed at the New Mexico Museum of Space History's Rocket Restoration Center on August 17th. The Museum plans to refurbish the rocket and put it on display at their famous Museum.
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DC-X Team photo taken in 1996 in front of the DC-X at White Sands Missile Range.
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Dr. Bill Gaubatz speaks at the DC-X reunion event. He originated and managed the development of the Delta Clipper (DC-X and DC-XA) reusable spaceplane concept when he was at McDonnell Douglas. He and his team's experimental programs proved through flight, that aircraft like operations could be routinely achieved for spaceplanes.
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What's left of the DC-X and DC-XA rocket innards after its final of 12 test flights at White Sands Missile Range. On that fatal flight, one of its four legs did not deploy and gravity brought down the DC-X in flames destroying the outer composite shell and charring its insides.
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A view inside the DC-X when it was under construction in the early 1990's at McDonnell Douglas in Huntington Beach, CA, with engineer Frank Simmons.
For more information...
Local Alamogordo editor Elva Osterreich and writer Laura London were hard at work covering the DC-X events and conference. Here's the link to the August 19th issue of the Alamogordo Daily News article about NASA Administrator Mike Griffin's speech and Q&A at the DC-X reunion and conference. The article is entitled "Head of NASA Talks Future": http://www.alamogordonews.com/news/ci_10240355
Two other articles in this issue are "Air Force Official Discusses Spaceport" - about Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for Space Programs Gary Payton's presentation at: http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_10240358?source=most_viewed
...and "DC-X Memories: Rocket Crew Reunion Begins" at: http://www.alamogordonews.com/search/ci_10240356?IADID=Search-www.alamogordonews.com-www.alamogordonews.com
- Barbara David reporting for the Coalition for Space Exploration
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