posted 06-18-2023 05:17 AM               

Space Cover 706: X-24B Taxi Tests

Almost 50 years ago the last of the "heavyweight" lifting bodies, the X-24B (see SCOTW 585 and 586), was finally ready to go through taxi tests where it was propelled across the Edwards dry lakebed at high speeds to check the landing gear, brakes, and steering before actually flying. On July 2, 1973 the first of these taxi tests occurred at Edwards when pilot John Manke used the small 500 lb thrust landing rocket engine to propel the vehicle up and down the lakebed six times. The cover above was hand canceled at Edwards that day and bears the generic NASA Flight Research Center rubber stamped cachet.

On July 5, 1973, Manke shot down the lakebed twice in another taxi test, this time using the X-24B's main XLR 11 rocket engine at half thrust (3000 lb). He repeated on July 6. Then on July 10, the X-24B had been mated to its B52 mother plane and the combination was taxied at high speed (X-24B unmanned that day) up and down the runway. Covers for these three tests are shown above. These tests paved the way for the first flights of the X-24B later that summer.

An Edwards cover servicer (Bob M and I both believe it was Dennis Lally, please squawk if you know differently) had a small handful of these covers postmarked for each of the X-24B taxi tests, and they are hard to find today. And they look very inconspicuous (see above). So, a word to the wise - if you happen to see one of these in some dealer's box-o-space-covers, it is well worth buying. These are much scarcer than most of the other (multitudinous) X-24B covers.

And for a finis, here's a 1973 image of the X-24B in the hangar for a "landing gear drop test" that preceded the taxi tests.

posted 06-18-2023 10:33 AM               

My four taxi run covers, identical to yours, did come from Dennis Lally (at $15 each), who also provided us collectors with a large number and variety of other X-24B covers, including captive, scrubbed, aborts and actual X-24B flight covers.