The recent launch of the X-37 test vehicle reminded me of another military space plane that entered development in the late 1950s with flights planned for the early 1960s. A group of astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, who had a long history as a test pilot of rocket-powered aircraft, especially the X-15, were selected to fly the X-20 Dyna-Soar. High cost and an ill-defined mission for the space plane, coupled with political rivalry, resulted in the program's cancellation in 1963. It seems like it was ahead of its time.

There's no definitive description of the Dyna-Soar but there's lots of historical material from its development period to draw on.

The X-20 will be a Poser figure. The rudders, elevons, and skid landing gear will operate realistically. Here's an early render:

Lots of detail still to do. Here's most of the instrument panel:

Still building up the cockpit. There are several photos and some blueprints, but the blueprints are mostly illegible for details. so I'll be depending on my imagination a lot.

The X-20 would have likely had opening cargo bay doors for some of its military missions. The Poser model will include a speculative bay-mounted camera assembly for reconnaissance missions.

You are doing the great job, this is awesome

The Dyna-Soar orbital missions would have used the Air Force Transtage for orbital maneuvering. Here's are early renderings of the Transtage:

Here are some renders of the cockpit and instrumentation. The controls and ejection seat will be rigged.

I've been working out the rigging for the skid landing gear. Here's a GIF of the nose gear test. (It was an animation but only the last frame shows.)

I had some trouble with the main landing gear, but now have it rigged. It's mechanism is very similar to the nose gear, but its movement is a little different. Here's a cartoon view.

Nearly finished with rigging, but some props still in work, and of course no texturing yet. Here are a couple of renders of the glider about to touch down:

Here's a partially textured render. The X-20 would have had a heat shield over the front windows. In a test run, pilot Neil Armstrong (who also flew the X-15) verified that the glider could be landed safely even if the shield failed to jettison.

Here are a few renders showing the still untextured included props, the Transtage and glider/stage adapters:

This shows the basic adapter that includes a solid rocket engine for launch abort. This engine could also serve for a back-up de-orbit burn.

This is so cool, as always. Keep it up

Cockpit partially textured, based on lo-res photos of simulator cabins:

Updated cockpit:

On orbit with the transtage.

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The X-20 Dyna-Soar is now in the Marketplace: Spaceplane