(Download a higher resolution picture by clicking on any
picture below. Photos on the right side of the page are from NASA
Dryden and the Air Force Flight Test Center History Office)
The sixth flight of the X-38 was launched on Thursday, November 2, 2000. It was the first flight of the modified V-131R configuration. It demonstrated the full-size 7,500-square-foot parafoil to be used on the actual Space Station Lifeboat. Previous X-38 flights used a 5,000-square-foot parafoil.
A short while before the
NB-52B took off with V-131R, the red Eagle Cam Cessna 337
Skymaster, N337WA with a Gyron 935 gyro-stabilized video system
took off from mid-field. It transmitted live television of the
parachute descent of the X-38. It is registered to Gyron Eagle,
Ltd of Pasadena, California. It is operated by Wolfe Air and is
regularly scheduled for MTV’s ‘Senseless Acts of
Video.
Link to Wolfe Air's fleet page.
Shortly before 8:00 A.M. the NB-52B lined up with the main runway.
A white and blue NASA F/A-18B Hornet chase plane,
N846NA took off. It made one circuit of the pattern and lined up
with the runway to catch the NB-52B as it took off.
Visit the NASA Dryden F-18 chase aircraft Fact Page and F-18 chase aircraft Photo Gallery.
The tower radioed clearance for the NB-52B to take-off. The shrill whine of the eight J57 turbojets increased in volume and a dense cloud of black smoke billowed up behind the Stratofortress.
The NB-52B
lifted off after rolling nearly 8,000 feet.
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You can buy an 8-inch by 10-inch print of this picture and some of my other B-52 Stratofortress pictures through the Lockett Photography web site.
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X-38, V-131R
is an 80%-scale testbed of the Space Station Crew Return Vehicle.
Forty years earlier,
the NB-52B takes off with the X-15-1 from runway 04 in September
1960. Photo courtesy AFFTC/HO. 
Mission
symbols for the five previous X-38 parachute recovery system
tests can be seen on the side of the fuselage of the Boeing
NB-52B Stratofortress mothership.
Shortly after
the NB-52B take-off, the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft departed
with Shuttle OV-103, Discovery. Link to a page with more pictures
of the Discovery at Edwards Air Force
Base.
The NB-52B carries X-38, V-131R over the Mojave
Desert on November 2, 2000. Photo ec00-0317-154 courtesy NASA
Dryden. 
High
overhead, contrails streamed from the engines of the NB-52B as it
flew around a racetrack pattern with its F/A-18B chase plane.
The X-38 was dropped from the NB-52B at an altitude of 36,500 feet. It made an unplanned 360-degree roll after launch. After twenty-four seconds of gliding flight, it deployed an 80-foot diameter drogue chute. It deployed the 7,000 square foot parafoil at an altitude of 19,000 feet.
A smoke generator has
been installed on the left wing of the Boeing NB-52B
Stratofortress mothership to assist in tracking the airplane.
A Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter flew near the X-38 to
transmit live television of the test. The parafoil turned slowly
in a half circle as it descended to the lakebed.
X-38, V-131R descends toward Rogers Dry Lake on
November 2, 2000. Photo EC00-0317-41 courtesy NASA Dryden. 
The trailing edge of the
parachute curled downward to flare the chute for landing.
The skids of the X-38 hit the lakebed and kicked up a
cloud of brown dust as the lifting body pitched forward for a
moment.
The parafoil settled to the ground alongside the X-38,
reflected in the lakebed mirage.
X-38, V-131R on Rogers Dry Lake following the
sixth free flight on November 2, 2000. Photo EC00-0317-41
courtesy NASA Dryden. 
The NB-52B
landing after launching the X-38 on November 2, 2000.
Photo ec00-0318-1 courtesy NASA Dryden.
Link to the NASA Dryden press release about the X-38 parachute test on November 2.
Visit the NASA Dryden X-38 Project page.
Link to the NASA Dryden X-38 Photo Gallery.
Link to the NASA Dryden X-38 Fact Sheet.
Link to the NASA Human Spaceflight X-38 Crew Return Vehicle page.
Visit the NASA Dryden B-52 Stratofortress Mothership Fact Page.
Boeing NB-52B
Stratofortress Mothership.
Books about
Edwards Air Force Base and the X-planes available from 
The X-Planes: X-1 to X-45: 3rd Edition
by Jay Miller
Test Colors: The Aircraft of Muroc Army Airfield
and Edwards Air Force Base by Rene Francillon
X-Planes at Edwards (Enthusiast Color
Series) by
Steve Pace
Edwards Air Force Base : Open House at the USAF
Flight Test Center 1957-1966 : A Photo Chronicle of
Aircraft Displayed (Schiffer Military History) by Robert D. Archer
Send a message to Brian.
Go to home page of the Goleta Air and Space Museum.