A successful NASA flight test on 17 August 2009 demonstrated how a spacecraft returning to Earth can use an inflatable heatshield to slow and protect itself as it enters the atmosphere at hypersonic speeds.rnThe Inflatable Re-entry Vehicle Experiment (IRVE) was vacuum-packed into a 15-inch diameter payload 'shroud' and launched on a small sounding rocket from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island.rnThe 10-foot diameter heatshield, made of several layers of silicone-coated industrial fabric, inflated with nitrogen to a mushroom shape in space several minutes after liftoff.
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