Northrop LBEC - Northrop Lifting Body Escape Concept - 3 crew - an ancestor of the X-38. 17,463 bytes. 253 x 294 pixels.

Northrop, building on its work on the HL-10 and M2-F3 lifting bodies, proposed a lifting body three-crew lifeboat. The piloted spacecraft would use a parasail for recovery. A crew of three would be accomodated in a pressurized cabin. The pilot would be required to actively control the spacecraft for retrofire, re-entry, and landing. Development of new heat shield materials would be required. In this Northrop proposal can be seen the same approach used in the X-38 a quarter of a century later. Mass per crew 650 kg.

Craft.Crew Size: 3. Total Length: 5.8 m. Maximum Diameter: 1.7 m. Total Mass: 1,950 kg. Main Engine Propellants: Solid.

• 419 - Kane, Francis X, IAA, "A Thirty Year Perspective on Manned Space Safety and Rescue: Where We've Been; Where We Are; Where We Are Going", IAA 84-270, 1984.