X-24B Fin Airflow Test

This 25-second video from 1975 shows the X-24B being dropped from a B-52 and performing a fin airflow test over Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert. A fleet of lifting bodies flown at the NASA Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, from 1963 to 1975 demonstrated the ability of pilots to maneuver (in the atmosphere) and safely land a wingless vehicle. These lifting bodies were basically designed so they could fly back to Earth from space and be landed like an aircraft at a pre-deter