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Twelve pilots flew the X-15 over the course of its career. Scott Crossfield and William Dana flew the X-15 on its first and last free flights, respectively. Joseph Walker set the program's top two altitude records on its 90th and 91st free flights (347,800 and 354,200 feet, respectively), becoming the only pilot to fly past the Kármán line, the 100 kilometer, FAI-recognized boundary of outer ...
[25] [26] Forrest S. Petersen, the only Navy pilot in the X-15 program, never took the aircraft above the requisite altitude and thus never earned astronaut wings. Of the thirteen flights, only two – flights 90 and 91, piloted by Walker – exceeded the 100 km (62 mi) altitude used by the FAI to denote the Kármán line .
During the X-15 program, eight pilots flew above 264,000 feet or 50 miles, thereby qualifying as astronauts according to the United States definition of the space border. Of these pilots, five were active-duty Air Force personnel who were awarded military astronaut wings contemporaneously with their achievements. However, the other three ...
William John "Pete" Knight (November 18, 1929 – May 7, 2004) (Col, USAF) was an American aeronautical engineer, politician, Vietnam War combat pilot, test pilot, and astronaut. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15 , an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the U.S. Air Force and NASA .
Robert Michael White (July 6, 1924 – March 17, 2010) (Maj Gen, USAF) [2] was an American electrical engineer, test pilot, fighter pilot, and astronaut. [3] [4] He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the Air Force and NASA.
Flight 87 of the North American X-15 was a sub-orbital spaceflight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force on 27 June 1963. [1] The X-15 was piloted by astronaut Robert A. Rushworth to an altitude of 86.7 km (53.9 mi) surpassing the U.S. definition of space.
Milton Orville Thompson (May 4, 1926 – August 6, 1993), (Lt Cmdr, USNR), better known as Milt Thompson, was an American naval officer, aviator, engineer, and NASA research pilot. He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA.
John Barron McKay (December 8, 1922 – April 27, 1975) was an American naval officer, World War II pilot, aeronautical engineer, test pilot, and astronaut.He was one of twelve pilots who flew the North American X-15, an experimental spaceplane jointly operated by the United States Air Force and NASA.