WASHINGTON NASA is nearing selection of a design for an “X-33” test vehicle that it hopes will lead to development of a radically cheaper launcher—and possible successor to the space shuttle. The U.S. space agency is set to choose by July 1 an industry partner that will receive an estimated $900 million under a three-year cooperative agreement to build the X-33.

LOS ANGELES After two warmup flights since its conversion from the DC-X, the McDonnell Douglas DC-XA experimental rocket has started expanding the flight envelope again. The DC-XA made its second and third flights on June 7 and 8, the fastest turnaround yet of the liquid hydrogen/oxygen-powered vehicle, showing high utilization rates that could improve the economics of a full-scale launcher.

WASHINGTON Orbital Sciences Corp. and Rockwell International pulled the plug on development of the X-34 reusable winged booster earlier this year when they backed out of a cooperative agreement with NASA. But officials at the U.S. space agency apparently do not carry a grudge.