1999 January 5

Problems continued to plague the X-33's liquid hydrogen tank #1. Bubbles and cracks were observed on lobe skin 1 after the last cure cycle. The tank was undergoing tests to determine if any of the other lobe skins were affected. The cause of failure was still under investigation, while the tooling used to manufacture tank #1 has been shipped back to Alliant. Tank #2 successfully completed another curing cycle in the autoclave. Only one autoclave cycle remains, and that one will install the dome doublers.

1999 January 13

Progress continued on the X-33 and its launch site.

Rocketdyne completed a 250-second test on power pack #1 the week of January 4th, with no anomalies reported. Once power pack #1 completes its tests, power pack #2 will undergo the same tests at NASA's Stennis Research Center. Liquid hydrogen tank #2 completed its final cure successfully the night of January 11th. It will now be moved out of the autoclave building to the building 104 for installation of thrust busters and tank sealant. However, the entire lobe skin of liquid hydrogen tank #1 will be removed, except for the bonded areas, this week. Failure of the lobe skin on liquid hydrogen tank #1 was so total, that a new tank skin will have to be built. Twenty four metallic thermal protection system panels were delivered to the Skunk Works. All of the X-33's 250 flat panels have completed assembly and braze operations.

At the launch site: Two consoles are now operating at the X-33 operational control center, and live video is available from the launch site. Helium and liquid nitrogen systems have been checked for leaks and cold shocked.

1999 January 14

At Lockheed corporate headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, Lockheed's Pete Teets, NASA's Gary Payton, and representatives from Boeing and Boeing's Rocketdyne Division met to decide how to save the RLV (VentureStar) engine, while still covering the X-33 aerospike engine cost overruns. They listened to a briefing given by the team organized last December to report on the problem. The team consisted of representatives from NASA, Boeing, and Lockheed. The results of that meeting are reported here for 1999 February 1.

1999 January 17

Power Pack Assembly #1 completed its final test this weekend at NASA's Stennis Space Center. That Power Pack will now be removed from the test stand. Power Pack Assembly #2 now will take its place on the test stand.

1999 January 20

Failure investigation of liquid hydrogen tank #1's lobe skin continued. Lobe #1 has been removed from the tank, and its pieces were undergoing analysis by Alliant, the Skunk Works, and Lockheed Martin MSS. Other lobes on tank #1 were being inspected to verify that they did not share the same problems as the scrapped Lobe #1. The replacement lobe is proceeding well, and the inner skin has been cured. Once testing requalifies the skin material, core material for the new lobe will be cut and laid onto the new skin.

Construction of the vehicle continued. The basic thrust structure is now fully complete. The body flaps are progressing to schedule with some threats from shortages. The vertical fins are slightly ahead of schedule, and the second frame structure is in the works. The canted fins are on schedule. The nose landing gear box is permanently installed in the vehicle. The nose landing gear and its lock-up are expected from AlliedSignal later this month.

1999 January 21

Aerospace Daily reported that first launch of the X-33 had been postponed to July 2000. Following the recent failure of the entire lobe skin of liquid hydrogen tank #1, the same tank's internal wall lost its bond, while it was undergoing heat treatment in a Lockheed Martin autoclave in Sunnyvale, California. Construction of the X-33 liquid hydrogen tanks already caused a four-month delay earlier in the program, when the original material had to be replaced with the current composite material. NASA and Skunk Works program officials scheduled a press conference today to discuss the situation.

1999 January 21

During a telephone press conference, NASA and Skunk Works program officials discussed the failure of liquid hydrogen tank #1 and its impact on the program schedule. First flight of the X-33 has been postponed to July 2000, and the cost of replacing the tank's lob skin will run nearly $5 million in addition to the significant cost overrun resulting from the aerospike engine difficulty. One measure the Skunk Works planned to institute in order to recover the added cost of replacing the lobe skin on liquid hydrogen tank #1 was to slow down work on the project and shift some workers to other projects.

1999 January 26

Announcement of the formation of the VentureStar Limited Liability Company (LLC) to turn the X-33 Program into a "viable commercial entity." VentureStar will identify potential strategic partners and obtain all necessary commitments to meet established financial goals and key program milestones. Jerry Rising, current Skunk Works Vice President of X-33/RLV, has been appointed President of VentureStar LLC. Cleon Lacefield replaces him as Vice President and Program Manager of the X-33/RLV Program.

1999 January 27

Although several theories have been put forth, the cause of the liquid hydrogen tank skin failure remains unknown.

1999 February 1

Update on aerospike cost overrun. The full amount of the cost overrun is estimated at $36 million. A large portion of that amount, $23 million, will be transferred from VentureStar aerospike engine development. An independent team determined that that sum could be moved to cover the X-33 aerospike engine cost overrun without risk to engine development for the full-scale vehicle. Boeing, whose Rocketdyne Division is building the aerospike engine, offered to contribute $10 million in corporate funds to the project. Of that amount, $6 million would go toward the aerospike cost overrun, while the remainder would be held as a reserve by the program office. The remaining $7 million of the cost overrun, the independent team judged, could not be transferred from VentureStar aerospike engine development without risk to the program. Discussion of how to deal with this remaining amount of cost overrun continues.

1999 February 3

NASA announced that the X-33's metallic thermal protection panels had passed a series of tests in high-speed, high-temperature wind tunnels and attached to the bottom of a NASA F-15 aircraft flying at nearly Mach 1.5. These panels will protect the X-33 as it flies through the upper atmosphere. Tests already have verified that the metallic panels will protect vehicles from temperatures of close to 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

1999 February 15

This week, 9 lobe skin core pull tests were completed on liquid hydrogen tank #1, and they were found to be within tolerances. The same lobe skin had tested low earlier with the field equipment. The field equipment is undergoing evaluation to determine why it did not read correctly. The low core pulls on the flight lobe skins are now considered invalid.

1999 February 17

The X-33 Quarterly Review took place at NASA's Ames Research Center.

1999 February 24

During the fourth test of Power Pack Assembly #2, a redline shutdown occurred after 130 seconds of a planned 250 second duration test. The problem was caused by water freezing in the gas generator chamber pressure sensor line. No hardware damage occurred.

1999 February 26

The NASA Independent Annual Review (IAR) Team spent this week at the Skunk Works X-33 hanger. It also was scheduled to tour the Lockheed Sunnyvale, Rocketdyne, Palmdale, and BF Goodrich Riverside facilities, as well as the X-33 Launch Site. The IAR complemented progress so far and agreed that critical development issues were the aerospike engines, the liquid hydrogen tanks, and the vehicle software. The IAR recommendation was to "Definitely Continue" the X-33 Program.

1999 March 5

At Edwards AFB today, the formal dedication of the X-33 launch site, henceforth to be known as the X-33 Flight Operations Center, took place. The Sverdrup Corporation of St. Louis, Missouri, designed and built the $32-million center in just over 12 months and under budget.

1999 March 15

Halfway through the month of March, work on curing and bonding the two liquid hydrogen tanks continued. Tank #2 may be completed by April 15th. The nose landing gear doors arrived from B.F. Goodrich, and they were temporarily mounted on the vehicle. Most of the thrust tubes were closed. Work continued on the body flaps and canted fins. The first of the curved metallic thermal protection system panels arrived from B. F. Goodrich. The avionics bay was structurally complete, and ready for final functional installation.

1999 April 7

Liquid Hydrogen Tank #2 is nearly complete, while Liquid Hydrogen Tank #1 is about to have replacement lobes 1 & 4 installed and enter the autoclave this week. Both body flaps now have one skin installed, and side fairings are being fitted on both. Instrumentation is installed on the left hand, and installation of the final skin is expected next week when the side fairings are complete. The first test of Power Pack #3 ran successfully on March 31st. The final test was conducted successfully last week. This concludes Power Pack testing. No tests are scheduled to be run on Power Pack #4.

1999 April 14

Liquid Oxygen Tank #2 (structural test article) was ready to undergo testing at Marshall Space Flight Center this week.

The curing of the replacement lobes skins for liquid hydrogen tank #1 went extremely well. It was the best cure thus far. Installation of all thrust busters and caps on liquid hydrogen tank #2 was completed.

Work is focused on the landing gear bulkhead installation. The tool has been modified for this operation. The bulkhead has been positioned optically, and Alliant is fabricating the shims to keep it on station. The next operation will be fastener drilling and installation.

1999 April 28

The NASA "Super Guppy" aircraft arrived at Huntsville, Alabama, with liquid hydrogen tank #2 for testing at Marshall Space Flight Center. Liquid hydrogen tank #2 already successfully completed a helium leak check the previous week.

The three X-33 flight Vehicle Mission Computers arrived from AlliedSignal this week.

1999 May 6

B.F.Goodrich slipped delivery of the first two elevons by about two weeks. This delay impacts the start of tile installation at Oceaneering. All tiles for the elevons have been delivered and are located at Oceaneering's X-33 facility. Skunk Works personnel picked up containers holding 1100 -1400 tiles from Lockheed's Sunnyvale plant and delivered them to Oceaneering. The tiles were primarily to support the elevons, but a third were for the body flaps. The balance of the tiles should be ready for pickup and delivery from Sunnyvale by mid-May.

1999 May 7

NASA announced that the X-33's aluminum Liquid Oxygen Tank #2 (structural test article) successfully underwent two weeks of testing at Marshall Space Flight Center. NASA engineers applied internal pressure and external loads to the duplicate 6,000-pound tank, which is identical to the actual flight tank that was installed in X-33 and will eventually hold 181,000 pounds of liquid oxygen.

1999 May 20

Sixteen base panels were delivered to the Skunk Works, bringing the total delivered to 38 of the total 48 panels to be attached to the X-33. Liquid hydrogen tank #1 completed seven of eight cures successfully. Wiring installation continues. All work in the nose landing gear is complete in preparation for gear installation this week.

1999 May 25

NASA and the Skunk Works hosted a teleconference on the X-33 and VentureStar. The Skunk Works reported that the aerospike engine and the hydrogen tank continue to be the major technological hurdles; no additional ones are foreseen, as construction of the X-33 continues.

The rotating launch system recently has undergone testing with the so-called Iron Horse, a contrivance with the same mass as the X-33 vehicle.

During the teleconference, Skunk Works officials gave several projected schedule dates. They anticipate that the team will transport the X-33 vehicle to its launch site in January 2000. Assembly of the first aerospike engine is scheduled for completion on June 25, followed by engine testing and integration into the vehicle. Cleon Lacefield, speaking on behalf of the Skunk Works X-33 Program, stated that he was "fairly confident" that first flight will take place in July 2000.

1999 June 2

This morning the Skunk Works started discussions on using NASA Dryden's King Air as an X-33 avionics test bed.

Liquid hydrogen tank #1, located in Building #104, has completed all eleven of its autoclave cure cycles, and was being moved to start installation of the thrust buster and tank sealing this week. Liquid hydrogen tank #2 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is still several months away from accepting hydrogen. The Skunk Works needs to beef-up the thrust busters before any testing occurs.

B.F. Goodrich delivered 24 metallic panels the previous week, bringing the total to date to 266 of 1241 panels delivered to the Skunk Works. Four BMI base panels were delivered last week, bringing the total to date to 42 out of the total of 48 panels to be delivered. The final 6 panels were scheduled for delivery by June 10.

Installation and testing of the X-33 range equipment continues, and is scheduled for completion on June 21. The next wave of tests, to be carried out at Dugway, will begin on July 14. The ER-2 flight from Edwards to Dugway is schedule for early September, while the X-33 simulation lab test with the radio frequency flight hardware should be completed by the end of June.

1999 June 4

The X-33 Quarterly Review took place at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Here are a few of the Quarterly Review highlights:

A lot of hardware is still pouring in for installation in the vehicle.

Number 1 flight engine is now to be shipped to Stennis on June 25 instead of June 14.

First leak test of the liquid hydrogen tank was sheduled for August 14, 1999; however, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is not yet prepared to measure the leak rate. Also, the work on the tank thrust buster apparently was not on Marshall's schedule.

1999 June 14

To date, three F-18 flights utilizing the Dugway range equipment for tracking and communication capability have been performed. The data are being evaluated, but it appears that the Dugway equipment is operating very well.

1999 June 18

Rocketdyne reported that they have a "chance" of delivering the first aerospike flight engine to NASA Stennis by July 4th. The engine would be delivered missing several parts, though. The rocket engine test stand at Stennis is ready to accept the aerospike engine from Rocketdyne.