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This photo shows a technician dwarfed beside the X-24A in a full-scale wind tunnel. The X-24A is tan in this photo because it is covered with a simulated ablative coating, which was being investigated as a possible method of protecting vehicles from the heat of high-speed flight.

The X-24A was flown 28 times in the program that, like the HL-10, validated the concept that a Space Shuttle vehicle could be landed unpowered. The fastest speed achieved by the X-24A was 1,036 miles per hour (mph--Mach 1.6). Its maximum altitude was 71,400 feet. It was powered by an XLR-11 rocket engine with a maximum theoretical vacuum thrust of 8,480 pounds.