The M2-F1 lifting body aircraft rests on the sun-baked floor of a dry lake bed located out in the Mojave Desert at the Dryden Flight Research Center, California. Pilot Chuck Yeager, seated in the cockpit of the M2- F1, talks with fellow pilots from left to right Milt Thompson, Don Malick and Bruce Peterson. All three flew the lifting body in several flights. The vehicle later suffered a mishap when Peterson was landing it--the oil in the landing gear hydraulics was not suitable for cold temperatures and caused the gear to break and the vehicle to suffer minor damage.