Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The North American X-15 is a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft.
Because of the large fuel consumption of its rocket engine, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at about 45,000 feet and speeds upward of 500 mph. Depending on the mission, the rocket engine provided thrust for the first 80 to 120 seconds of flight.
On Oct. 15, 1958, the first X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft rolled out of its factory. A joint project among NASA, the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Navy, the X-15 greatly expanded our knowledge of flight at speeds exceeding Mach 6 and altitudes above 250,000 feet.
Fifty years ago in 1959, test pilot Scott Crossfield threw the switch to ignite the twin XLR-11 engines of his North American Aviation X-15 rocket plane and begin the storied test program’s first powered flight.
That legendary hypersonic rocket-propelled aircraft was an experimental marvel drop-launched in mid-air from a B-52 Stratofortress. The X-15 set speed and altitude records — 4,520 mph (7,274 kph ...
The X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at 45,000 feet and at a speed of about 500 mph. After dropping from the B-52, the rocket engine provided thrust for the first 80 to 120 seconds of flight.
Like other rocket planes, the X-15 was launched in midair from a B-52 “mothership” at about 45,000 feet. Once its powerful rocket ignited, the X-15 streaked upward to the limits of the atmosphere, then glided unpowered to land on a dry lake bed. Typical flights lasted about 10 minutes.
The X-15 resembles not so much a plane as an oversized dart – a needle-nosed torpedo with stubby wings, built around a rocket engine that could propel it to speeds in excess of 4,500mph...
Noted for his engineering excellence and technical capability as a pilot, Armstrong became one of only 12 pilots to fly the ultimate experimental aircraft – the North American X-15. Before Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon and before he flew on Gemini 8, he was a NASA test pilot.
X-15: The World's Fastest Rocket Plane and the Pilots who Ushered in the Space Age, by John Anderson and Richard Passman. This first flight was the beginning of one of the most spectacular test programs of one of the most spectacular airplanes in history.