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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 ...
Walker piloted the X-15 to an altitude of 107.96 km and remained weightless for approximately five minutes. The altitude was the highest crewed flight by a spaceplane to that time, and remained the record until the 1981 flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. Walker landed the X-15 about 12 minutes after it was launched, at Rogers Dry Lake, Edwards ...
The X-15 reaction control system (RCS), for maneuvering in the low-pressure/density environment, used high-test peroxide (HTP), which decomposes into water and oxygen in the presence of a catalyst and could provide a specific impulse of 140 s (1.4 km/s).
Flight 188 used North American Aviation X-15 Number 2 aircraft, number 56-6671, 2A-F12. The X-15, model X-15A-2 had many modifications from the original X-15A. The X-15 number 2 on, flight 74, was damaged during landing on November 9, 1962, and was repaired and updated to become the X-15A-2. The X-15A-2 fuselage was lengthened 28 inches (0.71 ...
Flight 90 of the North American X-15 was a research flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force on July 19, 1963. It was the first of two X-15 missions that passed the 100-km high Kármán line, the FAI definition of space, along with Flight 91 the next month. The X-15 was flown by Joseph A. Walker, who flew both X-15 spaceflights over the ...
He flew the aircraft 14 times during the following two years, reaching a maximum speed of 3,712 mph (Mach 5.48) and a peak altitude of 214,100 feet on separate flights. The X-15 program provided a wealth of data on aerodynamics, thermodynamics, propulsion, flight controls, and the physiological aspects of high-speed, high-altitude flight.
The highest altitude obtained by an electrically powered aircraft is 29.524 kilometres (96,863 ft) on August 14, 2001, by the NASA Helios, and is the highest altitude in horizontal flight by a winged aircraft. This is also the altitude record for propeller driven aircraft, FAI class U (Experimental / New Technologies), and FAI class U-1.d ...
Flight 35 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force on March 30, 1961. [1] The X-15 was piloted by Joseph A. Walker to an altitude of 169,600 feet (51.7 km; 32.12 mi) surpassing the stratopause. [2] Thus Walker became the first human to reach the mesosphere. [3]