
The McDonnell Douglas DC-X, better known as the Delta Clipper, was an unmanned prototype of a reusable single stage to orbit launch vehicle developed in conjunction with NASA and the Department of Defense Strategic Defense Initiative Organization from 1991 to 1993. According to Jerry Pournelle: "DC-X was conceived in my living room and sold to National Space Council Chairman Dan Quayle by General Graham, Max Hunter, and me." The DC-X was built as a 1/3 scale prototype of the envisioned orbital launch vehicle. Once testing with the DC-X was completed, the plan called for a second, larger prototype vehicle titled the DC-Y and an eventual a full-size orbital launch vehicle called the DC-1. The DC-X was never designed to achieve orbital altitudes or velocity, but instead to demonstrate a radical new concept of vertical take off and landing. The rocket would take off as normal, but land again the right way up. This unique design used attitude control thrusters and retro rockets to control the descent, allowing the craft to begin reentry nose-first, but then roll around and gently touch down on landing struts at its base. The craft could be refueled where it landed, and take off again from exactly the same position—a trait that allowed unprecedented turnaround times. Another focus of the DC-X was minimized maintenance and ground support. To this end, the craft was highly automated and required only three people to man its control centre (two for flight operations and one for ground support). The DC-X flew a series of flight tests successfully, with Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad at the ground-based controls of some. However, on the eighth flight in July 1995, a hard landing cracked the aeroshell. The DC-X program was transferred from SDIO to NASA. The craft was rebuilt and upgraded with new fuel/oxygen tanks and an improved control system. The upgraded vehicle was called the DC-XA, renamed the Clipper Advanced/Clipper Graham, and resumed flight in 1996. The DC-XA reached a maximum altitude of 3140 m and set a world record of a 26 hour turnaround between launches of a reusable rocket. On the fourth DC-XA test flight, the craft flew correctly, but was destroyed on landing. During testing, one of the LOX tanks had been cracked. When a hydraulic line was left disconnected and a landing strut thereby failed to extend, the DC-XA fell over and the tank leaked. Normally the structural damage from such a fall would constitute only a setback, but the LOX from the leaky tank caught fire and severely burned the DC-XA, completely destroying it. In light of budget constraints, NASA decided not to rebuild a new DC-X and continue the program. Many of the DC-X's engineers have since been hired by Blue Origin, and it is rumored that their vehicle is based on it. Additionally, the DC-X provided inspiration for many elements of the Armadillo Aerospace's spacecraft designs. ==External links== *[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/dcx.htm Astronautix Page on the Delta Clipper] *[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/x-33/dc-xa.htm Data for individual DC-X test flights] *[http://redstone.ae.gatech.edu/~olds/mm/Miscellaneous/clipper_graham_crash.mov Movie of the Clipper Graham crash] *[http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/DCX/ About the DCX] – includes a first-person account and video *[http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/gettospace.html Getting to Space] – explains X programs and SSTO *[http://www.jerrypournelle.com/slowchange/simages/dcxpic.html Birth of the DC-X] – selling the DC-X to Dan Qayle Spacecraft
Should it be incorporated into this article? As well, It'd be good to get a picture of the DC-X up there. I'd like to have a picture that reflects the vertical landing capability of the Clipper (IMHO, it's the most impressive thing about the craft), but I couldn't find any pics on the net that were clearly public domain that looked good. BTW, I thought I read somewhere that all NASA or US gov pics or something were all copyright free (or unrestricted license or something), but I couldn't find it again. Is it true? What are the specifics?] User:Lommer 20:01, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC) ---- [Actually, the ship did not explode. NASA at Marshal had previously "tested" the tanks although there was no need for them to do so, and cracked one in their usual thorough manner. When the ship fell over because NASA people hadn't connected the hydraulic line to one of the landing gear, the cracked tank leaked, and the ship burned. There was never an explosion and good fire prevention action might have saved it since the impact damage was miniscule. Jerry Pournelle. [DC/X was conceived in my living room and sold to National Space Council Chairman Dan Quayle by General Graham, Max Hunter, and me.]] :The above was posted by ip 24.53.57.135 on Oct. 14, '04. I moved it here and changed the article -User:Lommer 02:26, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC) Dr. Jerry Pournelle has a web site at http://www.jerrypournelle.com/, and his email address is jerryp@jerrypournelle.com. On his web site, he commented about Wikipedia, and I wrote to him about how cool Wikipedia is, and sent him the URL for the DC-X page. I chose that page because I know he has a particular interest in it, as he had a hand in its creation. He wrote back to me, complaining that what was on the page wasn't quite right, and I replied to him that since it's a Wiki he could just fix it. He wrote back to me saying he had done so. Thus, I am confident that he did in fact write that text. I agree he didn't do a good job of fitting it into the article. I have edited the article and incorporated some material from his comments and some more from his web site. I also added a couple of links to his site. I have tried to do a good job. If you have any questions for him, you could send him an email, but it says on his web site right now that he is sick, so if it isn't urgent please give him a few days to get well. You may email me if you like: steve@hastings.org -- User:steveha 07:50, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Cool, always good to see new people on wikipedia and someone as knowledgeably as pournelle will be an awesome contributer. -User:Lommer 15:49, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC) ----
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McDonnell Douglas DC-X
The McDonnell Douglas DC-X, better known as the Delta Clipper, was an unmanned prototype of a reusable single stage to orbit launch vehicle developed in conjunction with NASA and the Department of Defense Strategic Defense Initiative Organization from 1991 to 1993. According to Jerry Pournelle: "DC-X was conceived in my living room and sold to National Space Council Chairman Dan Quayle by General Graham, Max Hunter, and me." The DC-X was built as a 1/3 scale prototype of the envisioned orbital launch vehicle. Once testing with the DC-X was completed, the plan called for a second, larger prototype vehicle titled the DC-Y and an eventual a full-size orbital launch vehicle called the DC-1. The DC-X was never designed to achieve orbital altitudes or velocity, but instead to demonstrate a radical new concept of vertical take off and landing. The rocket would take off as normal, but land again the right way up. This unique design used attitude control thrusters and retro rockets to control the descent, allowing the craft to begin reentry nose-first, but then roll around and gently touch down on landing struts at its base. The craft could be refueled where it landed, and take off again from exactly the same position—a trait that allowed unprecedented turnaround times. Another focus of the DC-X was minimized maintenance and ground support. To this end, the craft was highly automated and required only three people to man its control centre (two for flight operations and one for ground support). The DC-X flew a series of flight tests successfully, with Apollo astronaut Pete Conrad at the ground-based controls of some. However, on the eighth flight in July 1995, a hard landing cracked the aeroshell. The DC-X program was transferred from SDIO to NASA. The craft was rebuilt and upgraded with new fuel/oxygen tanks and an improved control system. The upgraded vehicle was called the DC-XA, renamed the Clipper Advanced/Clipper Graham, and resumed flight in 1996. The DC-XA reached a maximum altitude of 3140 m and set a world record of a 26 hour turnaround between launches of a reusable rocket. On the fourth DC-XA test flight, the craft flew correctly, but was destroyed on landing. During testing, one of the LOX tanks had been cracked. When a hydraulic line was left disconnected and a landing strut thereby failed to extend, the DC-XA fell over and the tank leaked. Normally the structural damage from such a fall would constitute only a setback, but the LOX from the leaky tank caught fire and severely burned the DC-XA, completely destroying it. In light of budget constraints, NASA decided not to rebuild a new DC-X and continue the program. Many of the DC-X's engineers have since been hired by Blue Origin, and it is rumored that their vehicle is based on it. Additionally, the DC-X provided inspiration for many elements of the Armadillo Aerospace's spacecraft designs. ==External links== *[http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/dcx.htm Astronautix Page on the Delta Clipper] *[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/x-33/dc-xa.htm Data for individual DC-X test flights] *[http://redstone.ae.gatech.edu/~olds/mm/Miscellaneous/clipper_graham_crash.mov Movie of the Clipper Graham crash] *[http://media.armadilloaerospace.com/DCX/ About the DCX] – includes a first-person account and video *[http://www.jerrypournelle.com/reports/jerryp/gettospace.html Getting to Space] – explains X programs and SSTO *[http://www.jerrypournelle.com/slowchange/simages/dcxpic.html Birth of the DC-X] – selling the DC-X to Dan Qayle Spacecraft
McDonnell Douglas DC-X
Should it be incorporated into this article? As well, It'd be good to get a picture of the DC-X up there. I'd like to have a picture that reflects the vertical landing capability of the Clipper (IMHO, it's the most impressive thing about the craft), but I couldn't find any pics on the net that were clearly public domain that looked good. BTW, I thought I read somewhere that all NASA or US gov pics or something were all copyright free (or unrestricted license or something), but I couldn't find it again. Is it true? What are the specifics?] User:Lommer 20:01, 9 Apr 2004 (UTC) ---- [Actually, the ship did not explode. NASA at Marshal had previously "tested" the tanks although there was no need for them to do so, and cracked one in their usual thorough manner. When the ship fell over because NASA people hadn't connected the hydraulic line to one of the landing gear, the cracked tank leaked, and the ship burned. There was never an explosion and good fire prevention action might have saved it since the impact damage was miniscule. Jerry Pournelle. [DC/X was conceived in my living room and sold to National Space Council Chairman Dan Quayle by General Graham, Max Hunter, and me.]] :The above was posted by ip 24.53.57.135 on Oct. 14, '04. I moved it here and changed the article -User:Lommer 02:26, 15 Oct 2004 (UTC) Dr. Jerry Pournelle has a web site at http://www.jerrypournelle.com/, and his email address is jerryp@jerrypournelle.com. On his web site, he commented about Wikipedia, and I wrote to him about how cool Wikipedia is, and sent him the URL for the DC-X page. I chose that page because I know he has a particular interest in it, as he had a hand in its creation. He wrote back to me, complaining that what was on the page wasn't quite right, and I replied to him that since it's a Wiki he could just fix it. He wrote back to me saying he had done so. Thus, I am confident that he did in fact write that text. I agree he didn't do a good job of fitting it into the article. I have edited the article and incorporated some material from his comments and some more from his web site. I also added a couple of links to his site. I have tried to do a good job. If you have any questions for him, you could send him an email, but it says on his web site right now that he is sick, so if it isn't urgent please give him a few days to get well. You may email me if you like: steve@hastings.org -- User:steveha 07:50, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC) :Cool, always good to see new people on wikipedia and someone as knowledgeably as pournelle will be an awesome contributer. -User:Lommer 15:49, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC) ----
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