Martin X-23 PRIME и X-24
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Martin Marietta X-24A также был экспериментальным самолетом, но в отличие от X-23 - пилотируемым. Первый пуск X-24A выполнен 17 апреля 1969 года с борта самолета-носителя NB-52B (переоборудованный стратегический бомбардировщик B-52). После сброса самолета с носителя пилот включал ракетный двигатель и осуществлял самостоятельную посадку на аэродром. X-24A совершил 28 полетов на авиабазе Эдвардс, штат Калифорния.
X-24A -экспериментальный самолет, созданный после X-23, но он был уже пилотируемым. Испытания проводились до 1975 года.
X-24A, авиабаза Эдвардс, 1967г.
19 марта 1970г.: ракетоплан Martin Marietta X-24 выполнил первый полет с включением двигателя после отцепки от самолета-матки NB-52B.
The X-24 lifting body was one of many vehicles carried aloft by the NB-52 (0008) launching aircraft.
Ракетоплан X-24A стартует с борта носителя NB-52B, 1970 г.
Экспериментальные самолеты X-24A, M2-F3 и HL-10, созданные для отработки конструкции «летающего фюзеляжа» космических ракетопланов
The sole Martin Marietta X-24A lifting body, 66.13551, was the last of this peculiar breed and perhaps the most advanced. Unlike the two NASA lifting bodies, the X-24A used a lenticular shape and was the fruit of a collaborative effort by the US Air Force's Flight Development Laboratory and Martin Marietta. As with the rest of this clan, the X-24A's purpose was to explore the best shape for an orbital aerospace 'plane and its post re-entry handling. Air-launched like its NASA soul mates, the X-24 made its first unpowered flight on 17 April 1969, followed, on 19 March 1970, by its first under the impetus of its 8.480lb thrust Thiokol XLR-RM-13. Typically, a 2.5 minute powered climb to 70.000 feet and Mach 1.6 would be followed by a five minute descent to landing.
Study of the X-24A at the Dryden Flight Research Center. Although its first manned captive flight occurred on April 4, 1969, the first flight under rocket power was not made until March 19, 1970.
Three manned lifting bodies were tested at Edwards AFB. Seen here, they were (left to right) the X-24, M-2 and HL-10, the last two being designed by Nasa and built by Northrop.
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