Bill Bennett and his Delta Wing hang gliders played a significant role in promoting hang gliding into a popular sport enjoyed by thousands of people worldwide in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bennett's first gliders were actually manned kites, such as the Model 162. He based these designs on a flexible wing developed by Francis Rogallo and wife Gertrude and patented in 1951. NASA became interested in the Rogallo wing after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957. The space agency tried to adapt the Rogallo wing into a successful recovery system for Gemini and Apollo capsules as an alternative to unguided parachutes. Making the Rogallo wing a safe and practical recovery system took too long and the agency chose instead to use unguided parachutes to land its capsules in the ocean. Created by Eric Long Date Created 11/21/2019 Source Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Keywords CRAFT Aircraft Rights and Restrictions CC0
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