https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/b1ab11f6-81ef-4a41-b8e4-c2bf7684f735 This 44-second video from the 1970's shows the HL-10 drop from the B-52 mothership and performing an approach and landing test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. A fleet of lifting bodies flown at the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, CA, from 1963 to 1975 demonstrated the ability of pilots to maneuver in the atmosphere and safely land a wingless vehicle. These lifting bodies were designed so they could fly back to Earth from space and be landed like an aircraft at a pre-determined site. These unique research vehicles, with their unconventional aerodynamic shapes, were the M2-F1, M2-F2, M2-F3, HL-10, X-24A, and the X-24B. The information the lifting body program generated contributed to the database that led to development of the Space Shuttle program as well as the X-33 and X-38 technology demonstrators. Aerodynamic lift -- essential to flight in the atmosphere -- was obtained from the shape of the vehicles rather than from wings on a normal aircraft. The addition of fins and control surfaces allowed the pilots to stabilize and control the vehicles and regulate their flight paths. All but the M2-F1 were powered by the same type of XLR-11 rocket engine used in the famed Bell X-1 -- first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound. The M2-F1, a lightweight prototype, was unpowered. The success of the Dryden M2-F1 program led to the NASA development and construction of two heavyweight lifting bodies based on studies at NASA Ames and Langley research centers -- the M2-F2 and the HL-10, both built by the Northrop Corporation. The "M" refers to "manned" and "F" refers to "flight" version. "HL" comes from "horizontal landing" and "10" is for the tenth lifting body model to be investigated by Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA. The HL-10 was delivered to the FRC by Northrop in January 1966. Its first flight was on December 22 of the same year. The pilot was Bruce Peterson, before he was injured in the M2-F2 accident. The HL-10 was flown 37 times and it set several program records. On Feb. 18, 1970, Air Force test pilot Major Peter Hoag flew it to 1,228 m.p.h. (Mach 1.86), fastest speed of any of the lifting bodies. Nine days later, NASA pilot Bill Dana flew the HL-10 to 90,303 feet, the highest altitude reached by any of the lifting body vehicles. The HL-10 was also the first lifting body to fly supersonically -- on May 9, 1969, with NASA pilot John Manke at the controls. The HL-10 featured a flat bottom and rounded top -- much like an airfoil -- and it had a delta planform. In its final configuration, three vertical fins, two of them canted outwards from the body and a tall center fin, gave the craft directional control. A flush canopy blended into the smooth rounded nose. It was about 21 feet long, with a span of 13.6 feet. Its glide-flight weight was 6,473 lb and its maximum gross weight was over 10,000 lb. Flights with the HL-10 contributed substantially to the decision to design the space shuttles without air-breathing engines that would have been used for landings. Its final flight was on July 17, 1970. The HL-10 is now on public display at Armstrong Flight Research Center (formerly Dryden). For more information on the HL-10, click here: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/armstrong/news/FactSheets/FS-010-DFRC.html Mirrored from YouTube: https://youtu.be/L6Jh8LK_J2A Original channel: NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center Wed, 15 Jul 2026 06:48:15 GMT https://validator.w3.org/feed/docs/rss2.html PeerTube - https://peertube.dngr.us https://peertube.dngr.us/lazy-static/avatars/ec5edb1e-3795-4978-be4f-c67e98fbc992.png https://peertube.dngr.us/videos/watch/b1ab11f6-81ef-4a41-b8e4-c2bf7684f735 All rights reserved, unless otherwise specified in the terms specified at https://peertube.dngr.us/about and potential licenses granted by each content's rightholder.