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X-15 Pilots Finally Get Astronaut Wings
Ginnungagap42 writes "NASA has a story about pilots Bill Dana, John McKay and Joe Walker finally receiving their astronauts wings for their work in the X-15 program back in the 1960's. Astronauts wings were awarded to the USAF personnel in the 1960's, but not to the civilian NASA pilots until now. The X-15 program was an important testbed for hypersonic flight. It's nice that all the pilots who flew high and fast are finally being recognized."
In "The Right Stuff," Wolfe mentioned that the NASA X-15 pilots didn't qualify for astronaut wings. Supposedly, a party was held for one of them after his qualifying flight. He was a pair of cardboard wings labelled "Asstronaut."
The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
just FYI I dont know about the first two test pilots but joe walker died in a jet crash in like the late 60's or early 70's. In fact my middle schools name was joe walker in honor of his life since he died while the school was being built or just after it was built (sorry its been a long time since middle school heh). It was pretty cool because I was actually doing a research project on him for the school website and I actually remember we found an old 8mm in the school attic of 'this is your life... joe walker'
Here is the NASA page that contains background info on the X-15 for anyone interested.
Well, whaddayaknow? CNN's wording was a bit strange on that one. I checked to see if I was making an ass out of myself, and I was. The two SpaceShip One pilots *did* receive astronaut wings.
Yummy. Foot.
From the FAA:
Those guys were awarded their wings from the FAA, not NASA.
Whole different story there.
Hmmm witty sig or funny sig? Maybe elitest techy sig!
The highest X-15 was 108km, SpaceShipOne reached 112km... 112>108 last time I checked.
The Fastest Man On Earth(TM) couldn't be here to accept his wings (rightfully deserved at that).
He flew the X-15 at 7,274 KM/hr, or Mach 6.7 to get some real grasp on that speed, as well as at an altitude greater than 50 miles, or 80 KM.
The X-15 crew had to complete the astronaut training curriculum in order to fly the X-15, but that's beside the qualification required to recieve an Astronaut Wing, that being flying in space at an altitude greater than 50 miles, or 80 KM.
Highlight of his X-15 (stolen from wikipedia):
He had more than his share of eventful flights in the X-15. While climbing through 107,000 feet at Mach 4.17 on June 29, 1967, he suffered a total electrical failure and all onboard systems shutdown. After arching over at 173,000 feet, he calmly set up a visual approach and, resorting to old-fashioned "seat-of-the-pants" flying, he glided down to a safe emergency landing at Mud Lake, Nevada. For his remarkable feat of airmanship that day, he earned a Distinguished Flying Cross.
On October 3, 1967, Knight set a world aircraft speed record by piloting the X-15A-2 to 4,520 miles per hour (Mach 6.7) -- a record that still stands today. During 16 flights in the aircraft, Knight also became one of only five pilots to earn their astronaut's wings by flying an airplane in space, reaching an altitude of 280,500 feet.
Do you still 'dial' a phone number (or wait for the 'dial tone' first)? When what the last time (if ever) you used a rotarty dial telephone?
I'm sure there a are lots of other/better examples, but the point is once a word or phrase gets some level of common use it gains a certain amount of social inertia. Even though the technology changes and the term is log obsolete, it is hard to think of substituting a different word.
I can't ever imagine saying:
"Hold on while I touch-tone his cell."
There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.
Not like it matters. 90% of the energy of a LEO orbit is horizontal, not vertical. SS1's up-and-down flight record belies the fact that it had almost no orbital energy. X-15 went 2/7ths of the necessary velocity for orbit, on 1950s tech.
Heck, even the V-2 had a greater payload (probably about twice SS1's cockpit, at 1000 kg) twice the delta-V, compared to SS1. And we're talking about the birth of modern rocketry there.
Are there any deer in the theater tonight? Get 'em up against the wall.
This means that, if pressure or temperature are lower than standard, the flight levels come down accordingly, so FL180 could actually be *below* 17500ft. Consequently, FL180 to FL185 are not used on those days.
Below 18000ft, pressure altitude is usually corrected for non-standard pressure, and that corrected value is shown on the altimeter. This makes it easier to find your altitude above ground level, which is important for clearing obstacles and landing at airports, whose elevations are given in "real" ft above mean sea level. At higher altitudes, these ground problems are not so relevant, and the flight level scale is used.
chl
I remember talking to Bill Dana in 1980's (am I getting that old? ;) ) at Edwards AFB when I was getting into Test Pilot School and he saying that he would like to have them but remembering Joe Walker to died in the F-106 crash and John McKay which died of liver failure from the an X-15 crash he would have like to have them get it also.
But it is better late than never.