NASA's M2-F1 Completes 1st Glide Flight After 5,200-Foot Tow
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Aug 16
NASA's M2-F1 Completes 1st Glide Flight After 5,200-Foot Tow
2 articles · Updated · Space.com · Aug 16
Summary
M2-F1 completed its first glide flight on Aug. 16, 1963, after a C-47 Skytrain towed the wingless prototype to 5,200 feet and released it over California.
Test pilot Milt Thompson guided the unpowered craft through a two-minute descent, delivering a smooth landing that showed the lifting-body design could be controlled safely.
NASA built the M2-F1 to test whether a piloted spacecraft could return to Earth by gliding like an airplane instead of relying on a ballistic capsule reentry.
That success broadened options during the U.S.-Soviet space race and fed later lifting-body programs whose data ultimately helped shape the space shuttle's runway landing approach.