Posted on 08/24/2005 11:31:51 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. (AP) Three NASA pilots who were aboard the X-15 rocket plane in the 1960s received their astronaut wings in a ceremony recognizing their spaceflight successes.
Bill Dana, John Jack McKay and Joe Walker were among eight pilots who took the research aircraft above the 50-mile altitude boundary that the military marks as the edge of space.
While the other five to reach such heights were Air Force pilots and recognized as astronauts by the service, at the time NASA did not award wings of any kind to its own pilots.
On Tuesday, the three men were honored with certificates marking their individual spaceflight and with the leather badges bearing wings given to shuttle astronauts.
Dana was the only pilot to receive his wings in person; Walker and McKay were awarded theirs posthumously, and the certificates and badges were given to their family members.
``Time and again, we asked them to risk their lives for our highest calling, the advancement of human knowledge, and they never let us down,'' said Kevin Petersen, director of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.
The ceremony also reunited four of the five living X-15 pilots, with Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle and Robert White joining Bill Dana at Dryden, home to the X-15 program.
Between 1959 and 1968, three X-15 research aircraft were used to advance knowledge in the realms of hypersonic and high-altitude flight, which was later used in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs.
The three pilots combined to command 70 of the rocket planes 199 flights.
Walker crossed the boundary of space three times. His last flight in 1963 set an unofficial world altitude record of 354,200 feet, or 67.08 miles. It was also the highest flight for the X-15 program.
Bill Dana
John Jack McKay
Joe Walker
'bout time.
John Jack McKay certainly earned his wings.
I remember the flights with "Go Go Joe" very well. Didn't the X-15 break in half on him once and somehow he got out safely?
ping
There was a hard landing that bent the frame.
No mention of Scott Crossfield, I guess that means he has passed...
Does anyone have the feeling that we just don't have the balls to build stuff like this anymore? I mean, this was 40+ years ago now.
If there was anyone who deserved wings of NASA it would be him.
I think only a few of the X-15 pilots qualified as breaking the 50-mile high barrier. Yeager was not an X-15 jockey. Still, the space boundary is pretty much arbitrary, so I kind of agree with you.
He never made it high enough to earn them.
Ed Sullivan" "What's that you are hoilding? Is that your crash helment?"
Bill Dana: "Oh, I hope NOT!"
Oh we still build this stuff, but you don't hear as much about it. First, many of the projects are 'black'. Second, many are shake-n-bake build jobs to prove a concept -- like a scram-jet -- over and done with after a few flights. Third, no need to risk a pilot. You can totally automate the flight profile for really high-risk, hypersonic flights.
I think General Boyd was the first Commandant of the fledgling program that catapulted the space program in the 60's.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.