X-38

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The X-38 was a program under leadership of NASA Johnson Space Center to build a series of incremental flight demonstrators for the proposed Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) for the International Space Station. The program also, in an unusual move for a X-plane, involved the European Space Agency and the German Space Agency DLR. It was originally called X-35.

The program manager was John Muratore. The Flight Test Engineer was future NASA astronaut Michael E. Fossum.

These vehicles were unpiloted lifting bodies. The flight models were:

• X-38 V-131
• X-38 V-132
• X-38 V-131R, which was the V-131 prototype reworked with a modified shell
• X-38 V-201, which was an orbital prototype to be launched by the Space Shuttle
• X-38 V-133 and V-202 were also foreseen at some point in the project but were never built.

The X-38 V-131 and V-132 shared the aerodynamic shape of the X-24A. It was patterned after a lifting-body shape first employed in the Air Force-NASA X-24 lifting-body project in the early to mid-1970s. This shape had to be enlarged for the Crew Return Vehicle needs (crew of seven astronauts) and redesigned, especially in the rear part, which became thicker.

The X-38 V-131R was designed at 80 percent of the size of a CRV, and featured the final redesigned shape. (Two later versions, V-133 and V-201, were planned at 100 percent of the CRV size.)

The X-38 V-201 orbital prototype was 80 percent complete, but never flown.

In tests the V-131, V-132 and V-131R were dropped by a B-52 from altitudes of up to 45,000 ft (13,700 m), gliding at near transonic speeds before deploying a drogue parachute to slow them to 60 mph (95 km/h). The later prototypes had their descent continue under a 7,500 ft² (700 m²) parafoil wing, the largest ever made.

Flight control was mostly autonomous, backed up by a ground-based pilot.

The X-38 project was cancelled on April 29, 2002 due to budget concerns.

However, a lifting body shape was considered at some point for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and could have been considered as an heritage from the X-38 project.

It is mentioned in the song "Where is the X-38?" by The Phenomenauts. In the song, a dig is taken at NASA for scrapping the plan.

Specifications (NASA X-38)

American X-planes
Bell X-1 Bell X-2 Starbuster Douglas X-3 Stiletto Northrop X-4 Bantam Bell X-5 Convair X-6 Lockheed X-7 Aerojet General X-8 Bell X-9 Shrike North American X-10	Convair X-11 Convair X-12 Ryan X-13 Vertijet Bell X-14 North American X-15 Bell X-16 Lockheed X-17 Hiller X-18 Curtiss-Wright X-19 Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar	Northrop X-21 Bell X-22 Martin-Marietta X-23 Martin-Marietta X-24 Bensen X-25 Schweizer X-26 Frigate Lockheed X-27 Lancer Pereira X-28 Sea Skimmer Grumman X-29 Rockwell X-30	Rockwell-MBB X-31 Boeing X-32 Lockheed Martin X-33 Orbital Sciences X-34 Lockheed Martin X-35 McDonnell Douglas X-36 Boeing X-37 NASA X-38 AFRL X-39 Boeing X-40	USAF X-41 Common Aero Vehicle USAF X-42 Pop-Up Upper Stage Boeing X-43 Lockheed Martin X-44 MANTA Boeing X-45 Boeing X-46 Northrop Grumman X-47 Pegasus Boeing X-48 Sikorsky Piasecki X-49 Boeing X-50 Dragonfly Boeing X-51

External links

• [NASA Dryden X-38 Photo Collection]
• [NASA Dryden X-38 main page]

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