X-33 Launchpad

Mission Profile

The X-33 launch pad at Haystack Butte, Edwards Air Force Base was the purpose-built vertical takeoff/vertical landing test facility constructed for Lockheed Martin's X-33 sub-scale demonstrator for the proposed VentureStar single-stage-to-orbit reusable launch vehicle. The pad was designed for X-33's planned test flights from Edwards across Mach numbers up to Mach 15 and altitudes of 75 km before landing at Malmstrom AFB, Montana. X-33 was cancelled in 2001 after composite liquid hydrogen tank failures during ground testing eliminated confidence in the vehicle's structural design, and the pad was never used for flight operations. The X-33 program's cancellation marked the end of NASA's Single Stage to Orbit ambitions that had been pursued since the mid-1990s.