Word: f2
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1960-1969
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Suddenly the steep plummeting dive changed to a semblance of flight. Under control of Veteran NASA Test Pilot Milton Thompson, the experimental M2-F2 "lifting body" demonstrated an uncanny ability to maneuver. Wingless and powerless, the 21-ton, 22-ft.-long craft swung through two 90° turns as it dropped through its rapid descent. At the last moment it lifted its nose, lowered its tricycle landing gear and streaked to a spectacular 200-m.p.h. landing on the flatbed of Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base. By successfully executing its unusual 217-second flight, the M2-F2 pointed...
Flight without wings-which are useless "in space and would be burned and torn away by the temperatures and stresses of re-entry-is made possible by the M2-F2's odd aerodynamic shape, which provides substantial lift in a fast-flowing airstream. Two sturdy rudders enable the craft to turn, and small flaps can be used to pitch its nose up or down. With such controls, a lifting body returning to the atmosphere from orbit at 18,000 m.p.h. might start on a trajectory designed to terminate near Kansas City, and still have the capability of flying...
...first practical use of a lifting body will probably be to serve as a ferry carrying scientists and supplies to and from permanent orbiting laboratories. Long before that happens NASA will have to complete a series of increasingly ambitious experimental flights. In the future, a version of the M2-F2 will be equipped with an X-15 rocket plane engine and sent to an altitude of 80,000 ft. at a speed of 1,200 m.p.h. before starting its powerless descent. As more funds become available, a piloted lifting body with a heat shield will be launched from Cape Kennedy...
Wrapped in an aluminum skin, the M2-F2 measures 22 ft. 2 in. long and 9 ft. 7 in. wide at its broadest point (the tail). To control the glider's descent once it reaches the atmosphere, the pilot has a rudder on each tail fin for turning, a pair of flaps on the top of the aft section of the body for upward pitch and roll adjustments, and a single flap under the aft section for downward pitch. If angle of descent becomes too sharp, the pilot can fire the two small thruster rockets on board. Wings...
...future space voyages, the lifting body will be orbited separately. When the astronauts are ready for the trip back, they will rendezvous with the M2-F2, hop in, fire the retrorockets and glide on home...