Into The Unknown
by Don Dwiggins
Golden Gate Books, 1971
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station
Re-Entry
Tag: X-20
Boeing Winged Booster
Alden Metcalf
Dyna-Soar in space was never to be, for the program was canceled in December 1963. One of reasons was the development of a new type of aerospace plane, the lifting body.
Orbiting Stations: Stopovers to Space Travel
Irwin Stambler
G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1965
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station
Dyna-Soar On A Leash
This drawing from the magazine Air Force and Space Digest shows a proposed NASA “ONE-STAGE-TO-ORBIT” aerospace plane. The craft would be able to take off from a regular airport using turbojet engines, then switch to ramjet propulsion at supersonic speed. To reach orbital speed in space, the aerospace plane would use a third set of engines using rocket propulsion.
In the drawing (above) the combination turbo-ramjet engines are housed in pods, just inside the vertical tailfins (on either side). The huge scoop atop the rear half of the fuselage contains the rocket engines and a novel collection and compression unit for gathering oxygen to burn in the rockets. The other propellant would be liquid oxygen carried in the craft’s tanks.
After it’s orbital mission, the aerospace plane would be able to reenter the atmosphere and land as a conventional aircraft at an airfield. The craft would be about 90 feet long and weigh some 100,000 pounds.
CREDIT LINE (UPI PHOTO) 7-21-62 (ML)
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL ROTO SERVICE
Image credit: USAF
Image source: Numbers Station
Model 832-40C
NAA Recoverable Booster
Jacques Trading Card
Dyna-Soar
X-20 by George Mathis
330-PSA-279-62 (USAF 167026): Artwork by George Mathis of how the Air Force Titan III Standard Launch Vehicle may look boosting the United States Air Force X-20 (Dyna-Soar) into orbit, August 1962.
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: National Museum of U.S. Navy
X-20 by Warren McCallister
FOR RELEASE AT 9:00 A.M., PDT, SEPTEMBER 22, 1960
DYNA SOAR GLIDER RE-ENTERING EARTH’S ATMOSPHERE
This is a Boeing artist’s impression of how the Dyna Soar manned space glider will look when it re-enters the earth’s atmosphere after a flight into space. Leading edges of the craft will glow from the heat created by the friction of the vehicle passing into the atmosphere. Dyna Soar will be boosted into space by a modified Titan intercontinental ballistic missile. After being separated from its booster, the glider will be left in a piloted, near orbital flight. Its pilot later could glide to a conventional landing at an Air Force base. The Boeing Company, under supervision of the Air Force, is prime contractor for the system and the glider. The Martin Company is prime contractor for the Titan booster.
— Boeing Airplane Company Photo
FROM:
News Bureau
Boeing Airplane Company
Seattle 24, Washington
Image credit: Boeing
Image source: Numbers Station
X-20 Three-View
Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar abandoned by the US Air Force in 1963 before flight trials could begin. Although ultimately intended for launching by Titan 3C, this one-man vehicle followed principles established by the Austrian engineer Dr Eugen Stänger a quarter of a century before. The project played an important part in developing aerodynamic and structural techniques for new-generation space-craft capable of maneuvering after re-entry from orbit. Length 35 ft (10.7m.) wingspan 20 ft (6.09m.); height (with wire-brush landing skis retracted) 8 ft (2.4m.).
Frontiers of Space
Philip Bono & Kenneth Gatland
Macmillan, 1969
Image credit: Macmillan
Image source: Numbers Station
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