North American X-15
Videos
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft formerly operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of
X-15A-3 pulls away from its drop launch plane over Edwards Air Force Base during a mission in the 1960s.
X-15 after igniting rocket engine
Cockpit of an X-15
X-15A-2, with sealed ablative coating, external fuel tanks, and ramjet dummy test
Joseph A. Walker
Videos
Joseph Albert Walker was an American World War II pilot, experimental physicist, NASA test pilot, and astronaut who was the first person to fly an airplane to space. He was one of twelve pilots who fl
North American X-15
…B-52/X-15 as a launch platform for a Blue Scout rocket to place satellites weighing up to 150 pounds (68 kg) into orbit. In July and August 1963, pilot Joe Walker exceeded 100 km in altitude, joining NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts as the first human beings to cross that line on their way to outer space…
Walker in 1955
Walker (L) with his fellow test pilots Butchart (C) and Jones (R), 1952
Joe Walker and the X-1A
Walker in his pressure suit with the X-1E