The X-38 project was a series of five prototype research vehicles developing technology to build and operate a space station crew return vehicle (CRV). The wingless CRV, when operational, would be the first reusable human spacecraft to be built in more than two decades.
Three X-38s were serving as testbeds in the development program and NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, is the site of the program’s atmospheric flight-testing. A fourth vehicle will be space-rated and used to evaluate the CRV design when it is released from an orbiting space shuttle to return to Earth.
The design of the X-38 incorporates the wingless lifting body concept pioneered at Dryden. Six unique lifting body configurations were tested at Dryden between 1963 and 1975. Data from the aerodynamic studies contributed to the design and operational profile of the space shuttles and is reemerging to help develop the CRV…Learn more
X-38 V-131 is on display at Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum in McMinnville,Oregon.
