NASA’s Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator, or LOFTID, is demonstrating a cross-cutting aeroshell -- a type of heat shield -- for atmospheric re-entry. LOFTID is scheduled to launch Tuesday, Nov. 1, as a secondary payload with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s JPSS-2 polar-orbiting satellite from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. In this image, the inflated LOFTID engineering development unit aeroshell is lifted to a test stand. The engineering unit allowed engineers to refine tests and procedures before building and integrating flight hardware. Image Credit: NASA #NASA #NASAMarshall #TDM #TechnologyDemonstrationMissions #LOFTID