Jun 7 1996
From The Space Library
The experimental DC-XA flight vehicle completed a successful test flight, flying nearly 2,000 feet (610 meters) above the desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico and landing safely. NASA researchers and administrators hoped that the rocket would one day replace the Space Shuttle as the primary means of space exploration. The reusable, unpiloted rocket, taking off and landing from a vertical position, would cut significantly the costs of delivering payloads into orbit. NASA announced that the vehicle had been renamed Clipper Graham, in honor of Lieutenant General Daniel O. Graham. Graham, who died on 31 December 1995, had served as an advisor to President Ronald Reagan and had been an early proponent for the development of reusable rockets. Administrator Daniel S. Goldin expressed optimism that NASA would be able to replace the Shuttle with the DC-XA flight vehicle: "We are going to fly the shuttle safely until we can replace it. But, by God, we are going to replace the shuttle."
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