#x-38

"X-38 Prototype Lands on Rogers Dry Lakebed

The X-38, a research vehicle built to help develop technology for an emergency Crew Return Vehicle from the International Space Station, is seen just before touchdown on a lakebed near the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards California, at the end of a March 2000 test flight."

Date: March 1, 2000

"The second free-flight test of an evolving series of X-38 prototypes took place July 10, 2001 when the X-38 was released from NASA's B-52 mothership over the Edwards Air Force Base range in California's Mojave Desert. Shortly after the photo was taken, a sequenced deployment of a drogue parachute followed by a large parafoil fabric wing slowed the X-38 to enable it to land safely on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards. NASA engineers from the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards, and the Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, are developing a 'lifeboat' for the International Space Station based on X-38 research."

Date: July 10, 2001

X-38 Ship #2 in Free Flight

"The X-38, a research vehicle built to help develop technology for an emergency Crew Return Vehicle (CRV), descends under its steerable parachute during a July 1999 test flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. It was the fourth free flight of the test vehicles in the X-38 program, and the second free flight test of Vehicle 132 or Ship 2. The goal of this flight was to release the vehicle from a higher altitude -- 31,500 feet -- and to fly the vehicle longer -- 31 seconds -- than any previous X-38 vehicle had yet flown. The project team also conducted aerodynamic verification maneuvers and checked improvements made to the drogue parachute."

Date: July 9, 1999

Frame of the X-38 (V-201 orbital test vehicle) Crew Return Vehicle under construction in Bldg. 220 at Johnson Space Center.

Date: July 14, 2005

3D Renders of the X-38 CRV

Launch of an X-38-based crew vehicle onboard Arianespace's Ariane 5. Several X-38 variants beyond the Crew Return Vehicle were proposed, for crew/cargo launch and freeflying scientific missions.