X-40A

Summary and Key Points: The X-40A was an unmanned space maneuver vehicle, serving as the precursor to the X-37B spaceplane. -Developed by Boeing’s Phantom Works, it was 80-90% the size...

Here’s What You Need To Know: “Up until the autonomous landing of the X-40A in 1998, no one had demonstrated that an unmanned space vehicle with such a low lift-to-drag ratio,...

Here’s What You Need To Know: The X-40A was not the first step in a reusable space plane, a concept that had predated the original Space Shuttle by decades. The experimental...

Today only one X-40A test vehicle remains in existence, and it is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. However, the program, which...

Here’s What You Need to Remember: The X-40A was not the first step in a reusable space plane, a concept that had predated the original space shuttle by decades. The experimental...

Today only one X-40A test vehicle remains in existence, and it is in the collection of the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. However, the program, which...

Last year a Chinese company announced it was working on a reusable space plane that could be launched from the wing of a larger “mothership” aircraft. After being jettisoned from...