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Electrical trouble scrubs X-38 test flight

x-38 prototype
The X-38 prototype is borne aloft on the wing of B-52 in this file image  

February 28, 2000
Web posted at: 3:15 p.m. EST (2015 GMT)

EDWARDS, California (CNN) -- A prototype spacecraft designed to serve as a "lifeboat" for the International Space Station developed an unexpected electrical problem on Saturday, forcing NASA to scrub a test flight.

Known as the X-38, the low-cost vehicle is expected to become the first new U.S. manned spacecraft to fly to and from space in more than 20 years.

High winds on Friday pushed the test back a day. And on Saturday a B-52 took off carrying the X-38. The prototype was supposed to be released from 35,000 feet and land at the Dryden Flight Research Center.

But within minutes the X-38 experienced a electrical short, possibly in its flight control system, said Dryden spokesman Alan Brown. The B-52 returned to Dryden without releasing the X-38.

The problem was "totally unexpected and relatively minor," Brown said.

But since project managers "didn't understand what caused it, they were worried it might happen again" and decided not to complete the test, Brown said. The flight will most likely be rescheduled for the end of March.

One reason the flight test in California will be delayed at least several weeks is that some of the mission personnel will participate in a test of the X-38's parafoil in Yuma, Arizona, later this week, Brown said.

Last month, the X-38 team successfully flew the largest parafoil parachute ever at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground. Mission engineers released a parachute with an area almost one and half times as big as the wings of a Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Early proposals to develop and build a crew return vehicle exceeded $2 billion. NASA estimates it can produce the X-38 prototype at one-tenth the cost, in large part by using many existing technologies and over-the-counter parts to construct the vehicle.

NASA and the European Space Agency are developing the X-38 primarily as an emergency rescue vehicle for the ISS. But space officials hope to apply the design to other purposes, such as a manned spacecraft that could be launched on the French Ariane 5 booster.




RELATED STORIES:
Space station 'lifeboat' passes second flight test
February 8, 1999
Prototype space station 'lifeboat' passes first test
March 12, 1998
Space station lifeboat
January 19, 1999

RELATED SITES:
NASA Homepage
European Space Agency

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