Diamond Member SpaceMan 0 Posted June 27, 2025 Diamond Member Share Posted June 27, 2025 This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up In 1963, Captain Engle was assigned as one of two Air Force test pilots to fly the X-15 Research Rocket aircraft. In 1965, he flew the X-15 to an altitude of 280,600 feet, and became the youngest pilot ever to qualify as an astronaut. Three of his sixteen flights in the X-15 exceeded the 50-mile (264,000 feet) altitude required for astronaut rating.NASA Former NASA astronaut This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up poses in front of an X-15 plane in this Dec. 2, 1965, photo. On June 29, 1965, This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up to 280,600 feet, becoming the youngest U.S. pilot to qualify as an astronaut. The Kansas native flew the X-15 for the U.S. Air Force 16 times from 1963 to 1965. Three times Engle flew an X-15 higher than 50 miles (the altitude required for astronaut rating), officially qualifying him for Air Force astronaut wings and providing him a brief moment for sightseeing at the edge of space. “You could glance out and see the blackness of space above and the extremely bright Earth below. The horizon had the same bands of color you see from the shuttle, with ****** on top, then purple to deep indigo, then blues and whites,” he said. Image credit: NASA This is the hidden content, please Sign In or Sign Up 0 Quote Link to comment https://hopzone.eu/forums/topic/278155-nasa-astronaut-joe-engle-flies-x-15/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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