NORTHROP M2-F3 REACTION CONTROL THRUSTER. ORIGINAL THRUSTER ROCKET FOR JOINT NASA/NORTHROP LIFTING BODY PROJECT. Various alloys with plastic nozzle, 8 3/4 inches tall, 1967-1973, with NASA Flight Research Center tag and receipt. The M2-F3 (M for Manned, F for Flight) lifting body aircraft was a joint project of Northrup along with the engineers at NASA's Flight Research Center, Ames Research Center and the Air Force. The lifting body is essentially a wingless aircraft that used the lift provided by the fuselage shape and would allow the pilot to land in a horizontal mode — a concept that was to aid the spacecraft of the future. The M2-F3 was a rebuild of the earlier M2-F2 which had crashed in May 1967. Among the additions on the updated vehicle was a reaction control system which utilized thrusters, such as the present example, to provide attitude control and sometimes translation. It was a system similar to that of orbiting spacecraft and was likely borrowed from that realm. The vehicle made 27 flights before it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in December 1973.
NORTHROP M2-F3 REACTION CONTROL THRUSTER. ORIGINAL THRUSTER ROCKET FOR JOINT NASA/NORTHROP LIFTING BODY PROJECT. Various alloys with plastic nozzle, 8 3/4 inches tall, 1967-1973, with NASA Flight Research Center tag and receipt. The M2-F3 (M for Manned, F for Flight) lifting body aircraft was a joint project of Northrup along with the engineers at NASA's Flight Research Center, Ames Research Center and the Air Force. The lifting body is essentially a wingless aircraft that used the lift provided by the fuselage shape and would allow the pilot to land in a horizontal mode — a concept that was to aid the spacecraft of the future. The M2-F3 was a rebuild of the earlier M2-F2 which had crashed in May 1967. Among the additions on the updated vehicle was a reaction control system which utilized thrusters, such as the present example, to provide attitude control and sometimes translation. It was a system similar to that of orbiting spacecraft and was likely borrowed from that realm. The vehicle made 27 flights before it was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in December 1973.
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