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Lent by Langley Research Center
The aeronautical engineer Francis Rogallo, working at NACA Langley, was
responsible in 1948 for developing and patenting the curvilinear
sail-wing form. In the early 1960s Rogallo devised a comparable
para-wing that would enable the safe recovery of Gemini spacecraft.
These designs were wind tunnel tested at Langley Research Center in the
Seven by Ten Foot Wind Tunnel and flight tested at Dryden Flight
Research Center. Although his invention was never deployed for its
original purpose-a parachute water recovery method was used instead- it
impacted on hang-gliding and kite making through the second half of the
twentieth century.
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