This 1958 photograph shows test pilot Joseph Walker in a pressure suit beside the X-1E at the NASA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base.
NASA
This 1958 photograph shows test pilot Joseph Walker in a pressure suit beside the X-1E at the NASA High-Speed Flight Station at Edwards Air Force Base.
In the photograph, Walker is wearing an early Air Force partial pressure suit, which protected the pilot if cockpit pressure was lost above 50,000 feet. Similar suits were used in such aircraft as B-47s, B-52s, F-104s, U-2s, and the X-2 and D-558-II research aircraft. Five years later, Walker reached 354,200 feet in the X-15.Image Credit: NASA