Orbital Sciences has won a $21 million contract from Fuji Heavy Industries, to provide launch services for an experimental supersonic scale model of a proposed supersonic transport, under development with Japan's National Experimental Supersonic Transport (NEXST) programme. The effort suffered a setback on 14 July when a rocket-boosted version failed to get off the launch pad after the rocket spiralled out of control and crashed, separating prematurely from the test vehicle. First flight of the jet-powered experimental aircraft, which will be dropped from Orbital's L-1011 TriStar mothership, is scheduled for 2005.
Source: Flight International