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NASA HL-20 Personnel Launch System
NASA Langley · Crew Return / Personnel Launch Concept · USA · Cold War (1970–1991)
The HL-20 Personnel Launch System was a NASA spaceplane concept for crewed orbital missions studied by NASA's Langley Research Center around 1990. It was envisaged as a lifting body re-entry vehicle similar to the Soviet BOR-4 spaceplane design. Its stated goals were to achieve low operational costs, improved flight safety, and a possibility of landing on conventional runways. No flight hardware was built.
Specifications
- Category
- Space
- Sub-Category
- Spaceplane
- Domain
- Dual-Use
- Era
- Cold War (1970–1991)
- Country
- USA
- Manufacturer
- NASA Langley
- Operator
- NASA
- Primary Role
- Crew Return / Personnel Launch Concept
- Status
- Cancelled
- Produced
- 1
- Launch
- Rocket
- Length (ft)
- 29.5
- Wingspan (ft)
- 23.5
- MTOW (lb)
- 22000
- Payload (lb)
- 8 crew