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» Aeroseum aviation museum, Gothenburg, Sweden
» Tartu aviation museum, Estonia
» Glider soaring, Ridali, Estonia
» Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Washington Dulles Airport
» Smithsonian's National Air and Space museum, Washington DC
» London Science Museum
» new! Riga aviation museum
» new! RAF Waddington Air Show 2008

:: Visit photos ::
» Aeroseum, Gothenburg
» Glider soaring, Ridali
» Tartu aviation museum
» Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
» Smithsonian's National Air and Space museum, Washington DC
» London Science Museum
» Riga aviation museum
» RAF Waddington Air Show 2008

:: Book reviews ::
» Visions of a Flying Machine

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:: X-33 (by NASA) ::

The work on this project started 1996. The X-33, a half-scale vehicle, will feature a lifting-body shape, a new "aerospike" rocket engine, and a rugged metallic thermal protection system. It is expected to demonstrate in flight the new technologies needed for a Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV). The X-33 will be an unpiloted vehicle, launched vertically like a rocket but landed horizontally like an airplane, and will be capable of reaching an altitude of 50 miles and speeds of more than Mach 15. A full-scale RLV would increase reliability dramatically and lower the cost of putting a pound of payload into space from the current figure of $10,000 to $1,000.
The X-33 is the replacement for the STS. The production version will be larger and called the VentureStar.

 

 

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