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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.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
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
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 guess this had to happen since the civilian pilot who went up into space to claim the X-Prize was awarded his astronaut wings.
It makes sense. They were in a winged, rocket powered craft that was dropped from an airplane. If they actually got to the same height as the guys from Scaled Composites, they deserve the same astronaut wings.
"Weapons should be hardy rather than decorative" - Miyamoto Musashi
I think that goes for OS's too
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".
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'
... then what about Jose Jimenez?
-- Jim Crigler In 1937, I began, like Lazarus, the impossible return. -- Whittaker Chambers
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.
The X-15 pilots were moving so fast, it took the medals and awards bureau 35 years to catch up with them.
You see? You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! Stupid!
Uhh, the link seems to be missing. Therefore, here are the NASA and Wikipedia links to X-15 articles for your reading enjoyment.
Does your application handle + characters in e-mail addresses? (RFC2822)
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.
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.
zipping past at very, very high speed.
/ HTML/E-16808.html
"Dana flew the X-15 research airplane 16 times, reaching a top speed of 3,897 miles per hour and a peak altitude of 310,000 feet (almost 59 miles high).http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15
59 Miles should be enough to grant you space wings. They asked for a bit more for the Xprize (328,000 feet) but it is true than even spaceShipOne is gloating about "SpaceShipOne Wins X-Prize - Breaks X-15 altitude record"...
Now, if he had won the prize money, he might have been more "impressed" with the matter...
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Two of these three are dead, and I suspect Bill Dana is in his 70's, and probably doesn't care much. When you are young, flying on adrenaline and have a pretty high mortality rate, the small regconitions like wings and honors and medals mean a lot more. If it takes 40+ years to deliver them, after you have calmed down a bit and had a full life, it probably doesn't mean a whole lot for the people (well, person) it's being awarded to. I think it's being done to make the institution feel better about itself, not particularly for Dana, McKay, or Walker.