ACRV-X: creating acronyms without thinking of the jokes

Assured Crew Return Vehicle – eXperimental  was the original somewhat poorly considered acronym for what became the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle (although that was cancelled prior to manned flight). I am sure that more than a bit of uncomfortableness was produced when NASA-Johnson Space Center engineers explained that their wives didn’t actually hear ’em right when he said that “I’ll be at the office late tonight working on A CeRViX.”

Anyway, enjoy the drawings. Unlike most concepts, the ACRV-X actually resulted in hardware… but like most projects, the whole effort was shelved before practical use could be made of it.