Boeing X-40

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Boeing X-40A

Description
Role	Glide Test Vehicle
Crew	0
First Flight	March 14, 2001 (dropped by CH-47 Chinook)
Manufacturer	Boeing
Dimensions
Length	21ft 5in	6.5 m
Wingspan	11ft 6in	3.5 m
Height	7ft 5in	2.3 m
Wing area	ft²	m²
Weights
Empty	lb	kg
Performance
Maximum speed	300 mph	480 km/h
Avionics
Avionics	Honeywell 12-channel Space Integrated GPS/INS (SIGI) system.

The Boeing X-40A Space Maneuver Vehicle was part of the X-37 Future-X Reusable Launch Vehicle project. Built to 85 percent scale, in 2001 it successfully demonstrated the glide capabilities of the X-37's fat-bodied, short-winged design and validated the proposed guidance system. March 14th 2001 saw the first landing of the vehicle in California. However, its first ever drop test occurred at Holloman AFB NM on August 11th 1998 at 6:59AM. This was a joint Air Force/Boeing project known as Space Maneuver Vehicle. It is reported to be the first ever test of a fully autonomous space vehicle (Japan's earlier test turned out to be partially controlled). It was released from approx. 9200 ft at 2.5 miles from the end of runway 04 from a helicopter. The vehicle dove to the runway much the way a Space Shuttle does now, flared, and landed left of centerline. It successfully deployed its drag chutes, tracked to with seven feet of centerline and stopped at just over 7,000 feet.