Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage Conditions May Apply Usage Conditions Apply There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page. IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and image viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. More - https://iiif.si.edu View Manifest View in Mirador Viewer Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply Usage conditions may apply

At the start of the Gemini program in 1961, NASA considered having the two-man Gemini capsule land on a runway after its return from space, rather than parachute into the ocean. This controlled descent and landing was to be accomplished by deploying an inflatable paraglider wing of the type invented by Francis Rogallo and NASA's Langley Research Center. Although never used to recover a manned spacecraft, the Paraglider Landing System Program proved useful in developing alternate landing techniques.

This full-scale, manned Test Tow Vehicle (TTV) was built to test the Gemini paraglider wing in flight. It served as the first of two TTVs flown to perfect maneuvering, control, and landing techniques. Eight times a helicopter released the TTV, wings deployed, over the dry lake bed at Edwards Air Force Base, where it landed.

NASA transferred the TTV-1 to the Smithsonian in 1975.

 Display Status

This object is on display in Human Spaceflight at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA.

Human Spaceflight
Object Details
Country of Origin United States of America Type SPACECRAFT-Crewed-Test Vehicles Manufacturer North American Aviation Inc.
 Dimensions Overall: 115 × 92 3/8 in., 4300lb., 304.8cm (292.1 × 234.6cm, 1950.5kg, 10 ft.)
Other (wheel to wheel): 92 in. (233.7cm)
Other (capsule): 103 7/8 in. (263.8cm)
 Materials Steel
 Alternate Name Gemini TTV-1 Paraglider Capsule Inventory Number A19750833000 Credit Line Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Data Source National Air and Space Museum Restrictions & Rights Usage conditions apply
For more information, visit the Smithsonians Terms of Use. You may also like Parachutes Not Required 5 Cool Things at the Udvar-Hazy Center You May Have Missed