X-15 Hypersonic Research At The Edge Of Space

Credit: NASA
This joint program by NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, and North American operated the most remarkable of all the rocket research aircraft. Composed of an internal structure of titanium and a skin surface of a chrome-nickel alloy known as Inconel X, the X-15 had its first, unpowered glide flight on June 8, 1959, while the first powered flight took place on September 17, 1959. Because of the large fuel consumption of its rocket engine, the X-15 was air launched from a B-52 aircraft at about 45,000 ft and speeds upward of 500 mph. The airplane first set speed records in the Mach 4-6 range with Mach 4.43 on March 7, 1961; Mach 5.27 on June 23, 1961; Mach 6.04 on November 9, 1961; and Mach 6.7 on October 3, 1967. It also set an altitude record of 354,200 feet (67 miles) on August 22, 1963, and provided an enormous wealth of data on hypersonic air flow, aerodynamic heating, control and stability at hypersonic speeds, reaction controls for flight above the atmosphere, piloting techniques for reentry, human factors, and flight instrumentation. The highly successful program contributed to the development of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo piloted spaceflight programs as well as the Space Shuttle program. The program's final flight was performed on October 24, 1968.

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Science & Technology

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[wonderlustre]

This is beautiful, and the wheelie helicopter is epic too!

[Diamondback338]

All that extra fuel he has to dump before landing was due to the research/engineering team's decision to add an extra 2000lbs of fuel to offset the weight of the pilot's GIGANTIC BALL SACK.

[ElementoVolatile]

@marcel911 Weel, that's simply a matter of weight: They had problems to come up with a plane that could lift it and launch it with boosters attached. The Shuttle's main engines didn't have enough thrust to allow him to climb in atmosphere.

[ElementoVolatile]

@ShlockenheimerNator Actually, you're right. SR-71 entered service in the late 60s, while his earlier brother, the archangel, was already taking off in 1962.

The YF-12 was built in the form of two prototypes during that decade, then the program died off, and they were handed off to NASA for experimental flights.

[TSideOG]

I hope this footage still exists on film so it can be redigitalized in HD

[ShlockenheimerNator]

@ElementoVolatile The SR71 ws flying in the '60's... and the YF as the mooted fighter version. ... crazy planes...!

[ElementoVolatile]

@lopz2557 During the sixties, there already was the First incarnation of the SR-71 around. It was the A-12 Archangel/Oxcart

[ElementoVolatile]

@fritzski22 Sadly, the age of Faster&Higher came to an end. It sucks big time, i wanted to live those days. Instead i'm stuck in the era of digital-assisted/badly implemented...

[88Hakan88]

any1 see the ninjas doing a dance on the wings? :))

[WickedTRX]

Not a Mhz in sight

[T15Medic]

I think it's amazing when you look back at these videos and the fact that their best control system was a human, when you look at some of the newer X craft like the X-43 it doesn't have a pilot.

[lopz2557]

This was done by guys with slide rulers (No computers) Late sixties dragon lady U2 is flying over USSR but secretly SR 71 is already on Kelly Johnson,s drawing board Last thing I heard a few weeks ago is that we now can put a missile in your back yard any place on this planet with in 60 minutes I think we have many smart guys working quietly on some major woopass technology that only will be reviled when the time comes I could be wrong A bomb Hydrogen bomb First Supersonic flight X-15 U-2