A
lifting body is a
fixed-wing aircraft or
spacecraft configuration in which the body itself produces
lift. In contrast to a
flying wing, which is a wing with minimal or no conventional
fuselage, a lifting body can be thought of as a fuselage with little or no conventional
wing. Whereas a flying wing seeks to maximize cruise efficiency at
subsonic speeds by eliminating non-lifting surfaces, lifting bodies generally minimize the drag and structure of a wing for subsonic,
supersonic, and
hypersonic flight, or,
spacecraft re-entry. All of these flight regimes pose challenges for proper flight safety.