The X33 is a reusable spaceship similar to the space shuttle, but with a mission of a lower cost. You can check out the official Edwards information on this project here, and the NASA website here. The X33 site is at the north eastern edge of the base, built on Haystack Butte, shown below.
The site is about 7 miles from route 395, and can be seen from the highway in a few locations. This photo is was taken just west of the highway with a 400mm lens. Note that to cut through desert haze, all the photos on this page were done on Kodak black and white Tmax 400 film using a red filter.
The first item of interest looks like 4 different plane crashes. How they all ended up in the same place is a good question. While the experts debate what these planes are, the possibilities are
Left: F104
Middle: who knows?
Right front:. MD F101 Voodoo
Right back: F100
This photo is of an area to the north of Haystack Butte, and is made from a composite of 4 photographs (Jan. 2001). [Panorama Maker 2000 was used to create the image. See www.arcsoft.com .] The huge hanger must be where the X33 will be stored. Click on the photo for a higher resolution image.
A control station is built into the hill..
View from the cell phone site.
Here is the top of the hill. Looks like just a tank and a solar cell, but that is what they want you to believe.
This is the official X33 photo from NASA. [Click for higher resolution. For seriously high resolution go to http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/X-33/HTML/PR2823-9.html . Thanks to the Zipper from dreamlandresort.com for this URL.]
The general area was or may still be a bombing target range. You can spot some tanks at the far right of this photograph. [Click on photo for higher resolution.]
This is some facility at the edge of the base, perhaps part of the North Edwards radio monitoring site. [Click on photo for higher resolution.]
Another set of buildings about 10 miles from the border.
