X-38

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The X-38 was a program under leadership of NASA Johnson Space Center to build a series of incremental flight demonstrators for the proposed Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station. The program also, in an unusual move for a X-plane, involved the European Space Agency and the German Space Agency DLR. It was originally called X-35.

Related Topics:
NASA - Johnson Space Center - Crew Return Vehicle - International Space Station - X-plane - European Space Agency - DLR

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These vehicles were unpiloted lifting bodies. The flight models were:

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• X-38 V-131
• X-38 V-132
• X-38 V-131R, which was the V-131 prototype reworked with a modified shell
• X-38 V-201, which was an orbital prototype to be launched by the Space Shuttle
• X-38 V-133 and V-202 were also foreseen at some point in the project but were never built.

The X-38 V-131 and V-132 shared the aerodynamic shape of the X-24A. It was patterned after a lifting-body shape first employed in the Air Force-NASA X-24 lifting-body project in the early to mid-1970s. This shape had to be enlarged for the Crew Return Vehicle needs (crew of seven astronauts) and redesigned, especially in the rear part, which became thicker.

Related Topics:
X-24A - Crew Return Vehicle

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The X-38 V-131R was designed at 80 percent of the size of a CRV, and featured the final redesigned shape. (Two later versions, V-133 and V-201, were planned at 100 percent of the CRV size.)

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The X-38 V-201 orbital prototype was 80 percent complete, but never flown.

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In tests the V-131, V-132 and V-131R were dropped by a B-52 from altitudes of up to 45,000 ft (13,700 m), gliding at near transonic speeds before deploying a drogue parachute to slow them to 60 mph (95 km/h). The later prototypes had their descent continue under a 7,500 ft² (700 m²) parafoil wing, the largest ever made.

Related Topics:
Transonic - Parachute - Parafoil

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Flight control was mostly autonomous, backed up by a ground-based pilot.

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The X-38 project was cancelled on April 29, 2002 due to budget concerns.

Related Topics:
April 29 - 2002

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However, a lifting body shape is considered for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and could be considered as an heritage from the X-38 project.

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X-38: See Also ►