On May 10, 1967, a NASA research aircraft known as the wingless M2-F2 lifting body crashed on Rogers Dry Lakebed at the Dryden Flight Research Center in California.
The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, was severely injured, but he survived, although he did lose his vision in his right eye. Peterson was coming in for a landing during a glide test flight when the plane starting doing something called a "Dutch roll" oscillation. He regained control, but then he got distracted when he thought he was about to hit a recovery helicopter. The M2-F2 didn't hit the helicopter, but it did drift away from the runway. Without the markers, it was difficult for the pilot to judge how high he was flying. He didn't deploy the landing gear in time, and the M2-F2 smacked into the ground, rolled over six times, and came to rest upside-down. Footage from the crash later became famous when it was featured in the TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man" in the 1970s.
The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, was severely injured, but he survived, although he did lose his vision in his right eye. Peterson was coming in for a landing during a glide test flight when the plane starting doing something called a "Dutch roll" oscillation. He regained control, but then he got distracted when he thought he was about to hit a recovery helicopter. The M2-F2 didn't hit the helicopter, but it did drift away from the runway. Without the markers, it was difficult for the pilot to judge how high he was flying. He didn't deploy the landing gear in time, and the M2-F2 smacked into the ground, rolled over six times, and came to rest upside-down. Footage from the crash later became famous when it was featured in the TV show "The Six Million Dollar Man" in the 1970s.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04On May 10, 1967, a NASA research aircraft known as the Wingless M2F2 Lifting Body crashed
00:09on Rogers Dry Lakebed at the Dryden Flight Research Center in California.
00:14The test pilot, Bruce Peterson, was severely injured, but he survived, although he did
00:18lose his vision in his right eye.
00:21Peterson was coming in for a landing during a glide test flight when the plane started
00:24doing something called a Dutch Roll Oscillation.
00:27He regained control, but then he got distracted when he thought he was about to hit a recovery
00:30helicopter.
00:31The M2F2 didn't hit the helicopter, but it did drift away from the runway.
00:37Without the markers, it was difficult for the pilot to judge how high he was flying.
00:41He didn't deploy the landing gear in time, and the M2F2 smacked into the ground, rolled
00:45over six times, and came to rest upside down.
00:48Footage from the crash later became famous when it was featured in the TV show The Six
00:52Million Dollar Man in the 1970s.
00:54And that's what happened, on this day in space.