On Dec. 22, 1966, the HL-10 Lifting Body took its first flight. The HL-10 was a heavy-lifting, horizontal landing plane built ...

Ever since the dawn of aviation many years ago aircraft have established themselves as fixed-wing machines capable of taking to the sky. Why winged? Well, for the simple reason that such a design is ...

Click to open image viewer. CC0 Usage Conditions ApplyClick for more information. This M2-F3 lifting body was the first of the heavyweight, wingless lifting body research craft of the 1960s. The ...

The Crash of the Northrop M2-F2 Lifting Body and “rebuilding” of Steve Austin, the “Six Million Dollar Man”. If you’re my age you remember a great prime time TV show called “The Six Million Dollar Man ...

When it comes to experimental aircraft, looks can be quite deceiving—especially when designs break from traditional “norms.” This is certainly the case with the Martin (now Lockheed Martin) X-24A, a ...

As it reached an altitude of 100 miles and a speed of 18,000 m.p.h. off the West Coast of the U.S. last week, an Atlas rocket opened its clamshell nose cone and ejected a 7-ft. object that resembled a ...