You may have noticed the new ad here for the DC-X 20 year anniversary symposium, August 16-18, in New Mexico –

The DC-X (Delta Clipper eXperimental) project was a seminal event in the development of the NewSpace approach to space development. Using a 1950’s X-project organizational style, it accomplished all its goals (e.g. repeated vertical takeoffs and landings, rapid turnaround between flights, lightweight hydrogen tank, flight operation with a very small team, etc.) at 1/10th cost that would have been spent if carried out in the standard NASA/USAF procurement manner. The project aimed to be the start of a systematic step-by-step development program leading to a fully reusable orbital launch vehicle. Unfortunately, while DC-X/XA successfully made the first step, the project got derailed with the over-complicated, over-ambitious X-33. Find lots of resources about the project in the DC-X History section.

Henry Vanderbilt gives his endorsement of the anniversary event here:

We’re coming up fast on the 20th anniversary of DC-X’s first flight later this month, and some of the people involved have organized a conference in New Mexico to mark the occasion.  I’ve volunteered to help out with the conference, and that’s what I’m writing to you about today.

Much of the original DC-X team will be there, to be honored and to talk about how they did it, techniques used and lessons learned.  There will also be a look at some of the many things that came of DC-X’s success, plus a Reusable Spaceplane X-Vehicles workshop looking to what should come next, as well as a tour of the New Mexico Spaceport.

This is a one-of-a-kind event.  It’s very unlikely that all these people will ever be in one place at the same time again.  If you have a deep interest in where “new space” came from, where it is now, and where it should go next, this event is more than worth a trip to New Mexico in August.

Conference agenda and details at http://dc-xspacequest.org/

thanks for your time

Henry Vanderbilt
founder
Space Access Society