Parafoil

Jalbert had a history of designing kites and was involved in the development of hybrid balloon-kite aerial platforms for carrying scientific instruments.

It was not until the addition of a drag canopy on the riser lines (known as a "slider") which slowed their spread that the parafoil became a suitable parachute.

Compared to a simple round canopy, a parafoil parachute has greater steerability, will glide further and allows greater control of the rate of descent; the parachute format is mechanically a glider of the free-flight kite type and such aspects spawned paraglider use.

[2] The air flow into the parafoil is coming more from below than the flight path might suggest, so the frontmost ropes tow against the airflow.

In 2019 Jalbert was awarded posthumously the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) Gold Parachuting Medal for inventing the parafoil.

Illustrations from Jalbert's 1966 patent, showing the keels and the airfoil shape.
The NASA X-38 prototype makes a gentle lakebed landing at the end of a July 1999 test flight at the Dryden Flight Research Center.