Mary Shafer wrote in
:

The X-33 RFP called for an _innovative_ vehicle, but the MDAC bid the
DC-Y and RI bid what was essentially a modernized Orbiter. Nothing
new in either of them. At least Lockheed-Martin bid something
innovative, with the aerospike engine on a lifting body. It deserved
to win and the other two didn't.

When NASA (or any other government agency) wants a specific company or
specific proposal to win the competitive bid process, it writes the
RFP to be sure that happens. It doesn't specify "innovative" for a
warmed-over SDIO concept or an Orbiter retread.

I'm not sure the DC-Y/Delta Clipper quite deserves the label "warmed-over",
since it only got as far as the low-altitude, subsonic DC-X demonstrator.
DC-Y/Delta Clipper would have been the first demonstrated SSTO and the
first orbital VTVL vehicle. While not as technologically ambitious as X-
33/VentureStar, it was fairly innovative in its own right.

--
JRF

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