On Aug. 16, 1963, NASA’s M2-F1 plane prototype made its first glide flight. This wingless plane sort of regarded like a flying bathtub. NASA made it to check a brand new idea known as the lifting physique, which was an unpowered glider that offered an alternate strategy to return piloted spacecraft to Earth. As an alternative of pummeling out of the sky in a ballistic reentry, the lifting physique landed type of like an airplane. For its first take a look at flight, the M2-F1 was towed 12,000 toes into the air by a C-47 Skytrain after which launched. Check pilot Milt Thompson was within the cockpit, and he introduced the glider in for a clean touchdown in California after a two-minute descent.
