Paresev
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The Paresev (Paraglider Research Vehicle) was a test vehicle based upon the kite-parachute studies by NACA Langley engineer Francis M. Rogallo. In contrast to an ocean landing with parachutes the "Rogallo wing" appeared to be an alternate means of returning a spacecraft to Earth. The Rogallo wing would allow the spacecraft to glide back to the earth and land at normal air fields. In May 1961 NASA decided to study this recovery method more and awarded a contract for a test vehicle to be built.
However this alternate to spacecraft recovery was deemed too unreliable and never used. A related wing was used in the development of the X-38 a technology demonstrator for the proposed Crew Return Vehicle. An interesting side note is that the first man to walk on the moon Neil Armstrong also test flew the Paresev.
