In the mid-1990s, NASA launched a competition for the design and development of

a successor to the Space Shuttle. The competitors were McDonnell-Douglas and

Lockheed Martin. The competition phase included concepts and costs for the

ground infrastructure for pre-flight and post-flight operations, including launch-

pads and maintenance hangars. This project developed concepts to support the McDonnell-Douglas proposal. The company proposed a vertical take-off and

landing vehicle named the X-33 based on an experimental predecessor named

the Delta Clipper that it had developed and successfully tested in the early-1990s.

The Delta Clipper was the first launch vehicle to land vertically (see video clip

right). Shown below right are

two images of the X-33 hangar

structure in blue. On the left,

internal work platforms in red on 

either side of the vehicle are in

the raised positions to enable

the vehicle to be rolled in and

out. On the right they are

lowered. Lockheed-Martin won

the competition with a vehicle

named VENTURESTAR but

technical failures led NASA

to abandon the project in 2001.