X-20 Dyna-Soar

The X-20 Dyna-Soar ('Dynamic Soarer') was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to develop a spaceplane that could be used for a variety of military missions, including reconnaissance, bombing, space rescue, satellite maintenance, and sabotage of enemy satellites. The program ran from 24 October 1957?10 December 1963, cost US$660 million and was canceled just after spacecraft construction had begun.

Related Topics:
United States Air Force - Spaceplane - 24 October - 1957 - 10 December - 1963

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Unlike other spacecraft under development at the time, such as

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Mercury or Vostok, Dyna-Soar

Related Topics:
Mercury - Vostok

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was intended to glide to earth under the control of the pilot and land

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at a pre-selected site, rather than simply falling to earth in a

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ballistic manner. This made Dyna-Soar far more advanced, in many ways,

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than the other human spaceflight missions of the period; it

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is one of the great "what if" projects of early spaceflight.

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In time, data collected during the X-20 program

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would prove useful in designing the Space Shuttle.

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