Robert Reed, 75, Developed Space Shuttle
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Robert Dale Reed, an aeronautics researcher who pioneered the “Lifting Body” and remotely piloted aircraft programs with NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in the 1960s and 1970s, died Friday in San Diego. He was 75.
The “Lifting Body” program – his most recognized achievement – grew out of Reed’s belief that a wingless craft could serve as an orbiting vehicle, re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land safely.
