|
X-20
DYNA-SOAR GLIDER
A
week after the launch of Sputnik in October 1957, the U.S. Air Force
authorized a research program for a manned space glider called Dyna-Soar
(Dynamic Soaring Vehicle). Studies resulted in a concept for a military
spacecraft that would be launched on a Titan III rocket and then
rendezvous with enemy satellites to inspect and possibly destroy
them.
To
emphasize the experimental nature of the program, Dyna-Soar was
renamed X-20 in 1962. As it seemed to duplicate plans for the civilian
manned spaceflight program, the X-20 project was canceled in 1963.
|
|
57 k jpeg
Courtesy of Boeing,
SI#: 2003-15269 |
|