BOEING X-20 DYNA-SOAR

The Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar was an American space shuttle project from the Cold War period. The plane was to be approximately 10.75 m long with a wingspan of 6.3 m. The maximum take-off weight did not exceed 5,150 kilograms. The propulsion would probably be provided by 2 AJ10-138 rocket motors with a thrust of 36 kN each, and the maximum speed would most probably exceed 25 Ma! Conceptual work on the X-20 Dyna-Soar plane began in 1955 and was aimed at creating a project of essentially a space bomber that would be carried into space by a launch rocket, then descended into the Earth's atmosphere and aimed at the chosen target as highest speed. The work accelerated after the launch of the Sputnik 1 satellite by the USSR in 1957, and the relevant implementation contracts were concluded with the following companies: Boeing (space plane) and Lockheed Martin (carrier rocket). Due to the incredibly increasing costs of the entire project and a large number of technical problems, the entire program was stopped in 1963. A prototype of the Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar aircraft (spacecraft) has never been created.