I literally applied to work at McDonnell Douglas when I heard about DC-X! It went against my choice to NOT work for a defense contractor, but it was a really cool project. They were amenable to hiring me but a program manager told me in confidence that the project had lost support because the Strategic Defense Initiative's cancellation meant there was no money to continue the project. The demo flights were the last deliverable in the contract and after that the project was dead. It made me sad.