Research Pilot Milt Thompson in M2-F2 Aircraft Attached to B-52 Mothership
NASA research pilot Milt Thompson sits in the M2-F2 "heavyweight" lifting body research vehicle before a 1966 test flight. The M2-F2 and the other lifting-body designs were all attached to a wing pylon on NASA’s B-52 mothership and carried aloft. The vehicles were then drop-launched and, at the end of their flights, glided back to wheeled landings on the dry lake or runway at Edwards AFB. The lifting body designs influenced the design of the Space Shuttle and were also reincarnated in the design of the X-38 in the 1990s.
- Date
- 1966-02-28
- Photographer / author
- NASA
- Collection
- AFRC
- Archive
- NASA Image and Video Library
- Type
- photograph
Public domainsafest
Reason: a NASA work: not copyrighted in the United States.
Read from: NASA media usage guidelines: NASA material is not copyrighted in the US unless noted; no third-party credit or mark found.
Credit line
"Research Pilot Milt Thompson in M2-F2 Aircraft Attached to B-52 Mothership" (1966-02-28). NASA/AFRC. Public domain. https://images.nasa.gov/details/ECN-1146Need photos for a whole script? Add Find Any Photo to Claude and ask for this one by its id: 90978.
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