TECHNOLOGY NEWS: "NASA has successfully pressure-tested a large cryogenic fuel tank made of composite materials. The space agency calls the test results obtained at Marshall Space Flight Center a 'game-changing' step toward a new generation of lighter rockets."
And it is. A precursor, the Lockheed Martin X-33 VentureStar SSTO (single-stage to orbit) technology demonstrator program was cancelled when its first-ever cryogenic composite fuel tank failed in 1999.
I was on the hangar floor when the 1999 second tank failure occurred.
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