NASA will launch a huge flying saucer-like inflatable heat shield into space next month

At first glance at these images, you'd be forgiven for mistaking them as stills from the latest science fiction blockbuster. But the flying saucer-like object depicted in the images is very much real - and is set to be launched into space by NASA next month. The Low-Earth Orbit Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator (LOFTID) is scheduled for November 1 and will see a huge heat shield launched into low Earth orbit. Once there, it will inflate, before descending back to Earth. NASA hopes the test will demonstrate how the inflatable heat shield can slow down a spacecraft enough to survive atmospheric entry.