John Manke with the X-24B lifting body after a 1975 flight.
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NASA research pilot John Manke with the X-24B lifting body after a 1975 flight. Manke’s precision unpowered landing of the X-24B on the main concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base led designers of the space shuttle to eliminate jet engines that had been intended to aid landing approaches of the shuttles from the shuttle’s design.September 5, 1975
NASA photo