Image of the Day Gallery
X-15 Ship #1 on Lakebed
The X-15 aircraft, ship #1 (56-6670), sits on the lakebed early in its illustrious career of high speed flight research.
The X-15 was a rocket-powered aircraft 50 ft long with a wingspan of 22 ft. It was a missile-shaped vehicle with an unusual wedge-shaped vertical tail, thin stubby wings, and unique side fairings that extended along the side of the fuselage. The X-15 weighed about 14,000 lb empty and approximately 34,000 lb at launch. The XLR-99 rocket engine, manufactured by Thiokol Chemical Corp., was pilot controlled and was capable of developing 57,000 lb of thrust. North American Aviation made three X-15 aircraft for the program.