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| Keywords: X-24B Landing on Lakebed with F-104N Chase DVIDS729857.jpg en This 1975 photo shows the X-24B with a Lockheed F-104N chase plane in formation beside it gliding to a landing on Rogers Dry Lake adjacent to the NASA Flight Research Center Edwards California after a 1972 research flight The X-24 was one of a group of lifting bodies flown by the NASA Flight Research Center now Dryden Flight Research Center Edwards California in a joint program with the U S Air Force at Edwards Air Force Base from 1963 to 1975 The lifting bodies were used to demonstrate the ability of pilots to maneuver and safely land wingless vehicles designed to fly back to Earth from space and be landed like an airplane at a predetermined site Lifting bodies' aerodynamic lift essential to flight in the atmosphere was obtained from their shape The addition of fins and control surfaces allowed the pilots to stabilize and control the vehicles and regulate their flight paths Built by Martin Aircraft Company Maryland for the U S Air Force the X-24A was a bulbous vehicle shaped like a teardrop with three vertical fins at the rear for directional control It weighed 6 270 pounds was 24 5 feet long and 11 5 feet wide measuring just the fuselage not the distance between the tips of the outboard fins Its first unpowered glide flight was on April 17 1969 with Air Force Maj Jerauld Gentry at the controls Gentry also piloted its first powered flight on March 19 1970 The X-24A was flown 28 times in the program that like the HL-10 validated the concept that a Space Shuttle vehicle could be landed unpowered The fastest speed achieved by the X-24A was 1 036 miles per hour mph-Mach 1 6 Its maximum altitude was 71 400 feet It was powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine with a maximum theoretical vacuum thrust of 8 480 pounds The X-24A was later modified into the X-24B The bulbous shape of the X-24A was converted into a flying flatiron shape with a rounded top flat bottom and double delta platform that ended in a pointed nose The X-24B demonstrated that accurate unpowered reentry vehicle landings were operationally feasible Top speed achieved by the X-24B was 1 164 mph and the highest altitude it reached was 74 130 feet The vehicle is on display at the Air Force Museum Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Ohio The pilot on the last powered flight of the X-24B was Bill Dana who also flew the last X-15 flight about seven years earlier The X-24A shape was later borrowed for the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle CRV technology demonstrator for the International Space Station The X-24B is on public display at the Air Force Museum Wright-Patterson AFB Ohio NASA Identifier NIX_ECN-4351 2009-12-10 Glenn Research Center https //www dvidshub net/image/729857 729857 2012-10-17 16 06 WASHINGTON DC US PD-USGov Images from DoD uploaded by Fæ 1975 in aviation in the United States Lockheed F-104 in NASA service Martin-Marietta X-24 Aircraft at Rogers Dry Lake | ||||
