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."

Comments

Today on Oxymoron Theatre:

[TripMaster Monkey]

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.

Tom Wolfe mentioned this

[Mark of THE CITY]

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."

Space Ship One Virgin

[saskboy]

Space Ship One's private citizen pilot(s?) got his wings, or at least that's what CNN reported.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/10/04/spaceship one.attempt.cnn/

"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."

joe walker

[Anonymous Coward]

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'

Re:About time

[Anonymous Coward]

Still in second grade after 47 years? Don't you think it might be time to just give up? :-)

About time...

[Junior J. Junior III]

The X-15 pilots were moving so fast, it took the medals and awards bureau 35 years to catch up with them.

Re:NASA Page for X-15

[PWatson]

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

A little OT:

[RPI Geek]

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...

Re:A little OT:

[chl]

Funny stories. Just a little nitpick: 60000ft would be flight level (FL) 600. The lowest flight level is FL180, which is at a pressure altitude of 18000ft, which in standard atmospheric conditions is 18000ft above sea level. Pressure altitude is the altitude inferred from the ambient pressure. It coincides with the real altitude only at standard atmospheric conditions, i.e. no high, no lows, no hot or cold day.

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