XCOR EZ-Rocket Performs Touch-and-Go; First Time Ever for Rocket Powered Airplane

XCOR Aerospace announced that its
rocket engine test-bed, the XCOR EZ-Rocket, successfully performed a
“touch-and-go” maneuver, yesterday, Monday, June 24, at their test facility at
the Mojave Airport in Mojave, CA. The “touch-and-go” maneuver was the first
time ever for a rocket-powered airplane.

The EZ-Rocket took off at 7:40 am and as XCOR test pilot Dick Rutan flew
over the Mojave Airport he shut down both engines in flight. Rutan then
brought the plane in to a power-off landing on runway 30, touched down and
rolled along the runway for several hundred feet. Rutan reignited the engines
and took off, completing the “touch-and-go”. The tenth flight of the
EZ-Rocket lasted seven minutes 47 seconds and reached an altitude of 5,850 ft.

“Being able to perform a ‘touch-and-go’ further demonstrates our goal of
safe and routine rocket-powered vehicle operation,” said Jeff Greason, XCOR’s
CEO. “If you are going to fly with any kind of regularity you need to be able
to safely abort a landing. The ability to reignite the engines and change
your initial landing dramatically increases the safety of the vehicle allowing
more routine operations. The EZ-Rocket’s ‘touch-and-go’ helps demonstrate our
capabilities.”

XCOR’s test pilot, Dick Rutan, Lt. Col. USAF Ret., will be inducted into
the National Aviation Hall of Fame this summer. Rutan is a decorated combat
pilot and is world renowned for the non-stop, round the world Voyager flight.
The EZ-Rocket is America’s first privately built, liquid fueled, rocket
powered airplane and has set major milestones demonstrating routine operations
of a rocket-powered vehicle. XCOR will demonstrate the EZ-Rocket during
AirVenture 2002 in Oshkosh, WI. ( http://www.airventure.org /)

XCOR Aerospace is a California corporation located in Mojave, California.
The company is in the business of developing and producing safe, reliable and
reusable rocket engines and rocket powered vehicles.