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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."
I read this story this morning on SpaceRef, and I was struck with the absurdity of the concept of "astronaut wings", since wings are less than useful in a vacuum. Still, I suppose that there's a great deal of precedent for the "wings" decoration...it's interesting to speculate on whether or not the nomenclature will eventually be shifted to more accurately reflect the current level of technological development (the 'order of the silver booster', or some such). It's equally possible that the nomenclature will never be altered, out of a respect for tradition and a nostalgia for the good old days...it's conceiveable that in the future, an astronaut living on a space station could be award "wings" for some accomplishment of other, having never travelled in an atmosphere himself.
Good to see these pilots get their props for their contributions, though, even if it is posthumously in the cases of John McKay and Joseph Walker, and even if surviving pilot Bill Dana seems unimpressed by the whole affair.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Space Ship One's private citizen pilot(s?) got his wings, or at least that's what CNN reported.p one.attempt.cnn/
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceshi
"Binnie, now only the second person in history to earn his commercial astronaut wings, reported a shaky flight with "a little roll" but did not experience the 29 rolls Mike Melvill experienced last week."
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
Those guys risk their lives more than any current astronauts. I recall putting together a plastic model of the X-15 in 1958. I was in second grade and very, very keen on the space program. I still am, but think that robots should be used much more now.
Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
I would expect that "wings" will still be wings even in the distant future of space travel. The award ceremony will just contain an explanation of the symbolic significance of "wings".
Also see this book for a great discussion of what makes a pilot. We're the Astronauts pilots even though a monkey made thier flights first? Not to say that doesn't make them brave, but there was certainly a lack of control.
Compare this with the work being done on the X-15 and centruy series rocket planes. No computer assist, full pilot controled flight to the edge of space and back. Serious Cajones there.
Spencer Ogden
In his book," Sled Driver," SR- 71/ Blackbird pilot Brian Shul writes:
I'll always remember a certain radio exchange that occurred one day as Walt (my backseater) and I were screaming across Southern California 13 miles high. We were monitoring various radio transmissions from other aircraft as we entered Los Angeles airspace. Though they didn't really control us, they did monitor our movement across their scope. I heard a Cessna ask for a readout of its groundspeed. "90 knots" Center replied. Moments later, a Twin Beech required the same. "120 knots," Center answered. We weren't the only ones proud of our groundspeed that day as almost instantly an F-18 smugly transmitted, "Ah, Center, Dusty 52 requests groundspeed readout." There was a slight pause, then the response, "525 knots on the ground, Dusty." Another silent pause. As I was thinking to myself how ripe a situation this was, I heard a familiar click of a radio transmission coming from my backseater. It was at that precise moment I realized Walt and I had become a real crew, for we were both thinking in unison. "Center, Aspen 20, you got a groundspeed readout for us?" There was a longer than normal pause.... "Aspen, I show 1,742 knots." No further inquiries were heard on that frequency.
In another famous SR-71 story, Los Angeles Center reported receiving a request for clearance to FL 60 (60,000ft).
The incredulous controller, with some disdain in his voice, asked, "How do you plan to get up to 60,000 feet?
The pilot (obviously a sled driver), responded, " We don't plan to go up to it, we plan to come down to it..."
He was cleared...
- "Nobody came out that night, not one was ever seen. But Old Man Stauf is waiting there, crazy sick and mean!"
Bill was a groundman for my grandfather, Einar, when they were spin-testing the F-14. They jointly invented a difficult manoeuvre to escape from a frisbee-like uncontrolled highly stable spin that had caused several F-14s to crash. It's fantastic to see that Bill Dana is finally getting his wings.
Astronauts didn't actually do much in early rocketry, almost everyhting was ground-controlled (obviously the X planes were the reverse). The only reason the early manned rockets even had controls (allowing the astronauts to call themselves "pilots") was that the astronauts demanded it, however pointlessly, and were important enough to the PR side of NASA to get what they wanted. More self-loading PR material than pilots. Heck, the same thing is almost certainly true for why the shuttle is piloted for the last 2-3 minutes of landing.
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.