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X-15 Pilots Finally Get Astronaut Wings

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the it's-all-space-to-me dept.

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."

2 of 143 comments (clear)

  1. Tom Wolfe mentioned this by Mark+of+THE+CITY · · Score: 5, Informative

    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."

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  2. Re:NASA Page for X-15 by PWatson · · Score: 5, Informative

    Uhh, the link seems to be missing. Therefore, here are the NASA and Wikipedia links to X-15 articles for your reading enjoyment.

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