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NASA Escape Pod Glides to New Home
By Alexis Madrigal  November 9, 2009  |  3:34 pm  |  Categories: Space

The odd story of NASA’s unused wingless escape vehicle for the International Space Station is finally over.

The prototype X-38, a 7-person, unpowered, totally automatic lifeboat, was officially laid to rest at the Strategic Air and Space Museum in Ashland, Nebraska last weekend.

Canceled in 2002 by the Bush Administration in an effort to cut some costs from the International Space Station budget, the vehicle could have provided an emergency return route for astronauts on the station. It would have been docked in space, awaiting the call of duty.

The program got as far as “drop tests” during which the vehicles were dropped from B-52s and piloted to the ground. One of them is seen above. After a short freefall, the X38 deployed an enormous parafoil, which allowed it to glide softly to the ground.

The program had cost around $510 million and needed around $50 million more to complete its flight testing. At the time, an unnamed engineer told the Houston Chronicle the decision to abandon the project was “absolutely ridiculous.”

The shape of the plane’s body recalls the X-24 and other lifting body airplanes, including the one designed for the 1969 space opera starring Gene Hackman, Marooned.