In 1996, the
HYFLEX (Hypersonic Flight Experiment) lifting body was launched on a J-I solid-fuel rocket as a precursor for the now-cancelled HOPE (H-II Orbital Plane) mini space shuttle.
But then I found the attached image, titled H2-HYFLEX, while on a Google image search. It appears to be an HTV (the pressurized section) combined with the second stage into a single structure, apparently with a cylindrical lifting body shape, and a thermal protection system like the original HYFLEX. Does anyone have any more information about this?
original link:
http://book.geocities.jp/ask_otoha/tec/H2-HYFLEX.jpg(that is the only occurrence of the image that currently exists, according to Google reverse image search)
^When I saved that file to one of my folders, the thumbnail was showing text at the top left corner that wasn't in the close-up image, but some characters are not legible.
