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X-15 after igniting rocket engine X-15A-2, with sealed ablative coating, external fuel tanks, and ramjet dummy test. The X-15 was based on a concept study from Walter Dornberger for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) of a hypersonic research aircraft. [7]
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 ...
In November 1961, Air Force Major Robert White flew the X-15 research aircraft at speeds over Mach 6. [4] [5] On 3 October 1967, in California, an X-15 reached Mach 6.7. [6] The reentry problem of a space vehicle was extensively studied. [7] The NASA X-43A flew on scramjet for 10 seconds, and then glided for 10 minutes on its last flight in 2004.
X-15: North American USAF, NASA 1959 Hypersonic, high-altitude flight First crewed hypersonic aircraft; capable of suborbital spaceflight. [25] X-15A-2: North American USAF, NASA 1964 Hypersonic, high-altitude flight Major Pete Knight flew the X-15A-2 to a Mach 6.70, making it the fastest piloted flight of the X-plane program. X-16: Bell USAF 1954
The X-15A-2 Number 2 was the only X-15 to have the external tank modifications. Because of heat damage, the scramjet broke loose and fell away from the X-15A-2. The dummy scramjet was fitted for speed testing, the goal was to have real flight test and compare this with the wind tunnel testing.
That same year, NACA became the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and in 1960, Walker became the first NASA pilot to fly the X-15, and the second X-15 pilot, following Scott Crossfield, the manufacturer's test pilot. On his first X-15 flight, Walker did not realize how much power its rocket engines had, and he was crushed ...
In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that exceeds five times the speed of sound, ... North American X-15 (Mach 6.7) NASA X-43 (Mach 9.6) Boeing X-51 Waverider ...
X-15 Flight 91 was an August 22, 1963 American crewed sub-orbital spaceflight, and the second and final flight in the program to fly above the Kármán line, which was previously achieved during Flight 90 a month earlier by the same pilot, Joseph A. Walker.