Reaching for Space
Perhaps the most famous of the X-planes is the North American X-15 rocket plane. During its 199 test flights between 1959 and 1968 the plane set altitude and speed records that included breaking the Mach 4, 5 and 6 milestones. Air Force pilot William "Pete" Knight, shown here, and seven other pilots flew higher than 50 miles in the X-15 and earned astronaut wings. Lessons learned from the X-15 directly assisted in the development of the Space Shuttle program.
Image Credit: NASA
- X
https://www.nasa.gov/image-detail/reaching-space/
TakenMarch 22, 2013
Image CreditNASA
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