The X-38—had it gone operational—would not have been the first reusable spacecraft. But it helped lay the groundwork for future space programs’ emphasis on reusability. The NASA X-38 was an ...

The X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (CRV) was tasked with a significant challenge: saving crew members aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Between 1963 and 1975, NASA's Flight Research Center and ...

Developing reusable spacecraft would have helped keep the costs of space exploration down. The monetary costs of space exploration, perhaps the most daunting undertaking in human history, have always ...

technical and cost risk of a future CRV production program.” The landing test, the eighth large-scale flight test for the program, began with the release of the X-38 from NASA’s B-52 aircraft at an ...