NORTH AMERICAN X-15^75
Above: The North American X-15 slung under
its specially modi ed NB-52 ‘mothership’.
Information gained from the ights contributed
to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and
Apollo piloted space ight programmes as well as
the later Space Shuttle.
Right: The moment of release as seen from the
B-52. The X-15 was little more than a manned
missile, and the con nes of its claustrophobic
cockpit are all too apparent.
Below: With rocket engaged the X-15 streaks
across the sky, climbing to the edge of space.
Short but intense, each adrenaline- lled mission
lasted around 12 min.criterion by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles
(80km), thus qualifying these pilots as being
astronauts. The service pilots quali ed for
astronaut wings immediately, while the civilian
pilots were eventually awarded NASA astronaut
wings in 2005, 35 years after the last X-15 ight.
The X-15 had its share of emergency landings
and accidents, but only two were serious. On
9 November 1962, Jack McKay experienced
an engine failure and landed at Mud Lake, NV.
The landing gear collapsed, ipping him and
the aircraft on its back. Although he recovered
from his injuries su ciently to y again, he
eventually had to retire because of them. On
15 November 1967, test pilot Michael Adams
entered a hypersonic spin from which he was
able to recover, but could not bring the X-15
out of an inverted dive because of a technical
problem with the adaptive ight control system.
The aircraft broke-up at 60,000ft killing the pilot.
The remarkable X-15 spearheaded research
in a variety of areas: hypersonic aerodynamics,
winged re-entry from space, life-support
systems for spacecraft, aerodynamic heating
and heat transfer research, and earth sciences
experiments.North American X-15
Max speed: 4,520mph (7,274km/h)
Engine: Reaction Motors
XLR99-RM-2 liquid
propellant rocket
Power: 70,400lb
Length: 50ft 9in (15.45m)
Wingspan: 22ft 4in (6.8m)
Height: 13ft 6in (4.12m)
Service ceiling: 354,330ft (108km)
Max T/O weight: 34,000lb (15,420kg)