Jacques van Oene
August 24th 05, 10:45 AM
Aug. 23, 2005
Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Frederick A. Johnsen
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661/276-2998
RELEASE: 05-57
X-15 SPACE PIONEERS NOW HONORED AS ASTRONAUTS
In a turbulent era of 1960s Cold War confrontations, moon race
headlines, and war in southeast Asia, eight military and civilian
test pilots flew the radical X-15 rocket plane out of the atmosphere
and into the record books, earning astronaut status. Until today,
three of those early astronaut test pilots never received official
recognition of their lofty membership as astronauts because only the
military had astronaut wings to confer on their pilots at that time.
Civilian NASA pilots had no such badge.
That inequity was rectified today when retired NASA pilot Bill Dana,
and family members representing deceased pilots John B. McKay and
Joseph A. Walker, received civilian astronaut wings acknowledging
their flights above 264,000 feet altitude -- 50 miles high. The men
were honored in a quiet ceremony at NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center on Edwards Air Force Base in California, site of their
achievements.
Bill Dana was philosophical about it: NASA pilots didn't wear wings
anyway, and the concept of winning special wings was probably more
crucial to a military pilot's career ladder, he explained.
Dana's first of two flights into space took him 58.13 miles above the
Mojave Desert on Nov. 1, 1966 on a mission to collect micrometeorite
samples, while also learning about issues of sky brightness at that
height.
Joe Walker's third X-15 foray into space claimed the unofficial world
altitude record of 354,200 feet, or 67.08 miles, on Aug. 22, 1963.
Walker's unofficial record also marked the highest altitude to which
the X-15 was ever flown.
John McKay attained 295,600 feet altitude, or 55.98 miles, on Sept.
28, 1965 during during a flight that investigated several research
experiments.
The X-15 program used three piloted hypersonic rocket planes to fly as
high as 67 miles and as fast as nearly seven times the speed of
sound. Volumes of test data gleaned from 199 X-15 missions from 1959
through 1968 helped shape the successful Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and
Space Shuttle human spaceflight programs. Two retired X-15s are
displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., and
the Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Still photos and video footage are available to support this release.
Photos are available on the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Internet web site at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/index.html
Additional photos of the astronaut wings presentation ceremony will be
posted on Aug. 24 at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html.
TELEVISION EDITORS: Interview segments and B-roll footage to support
this release will be aired during the Video File feeds on NASA TV
beginning on Aug. 24. NASA TV is carried on the Web and on an MPEG-2
digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west
longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. It's
available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, at 137 degrees west
longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A
Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is
required for reception. For NASA TV information and schedules on the
Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
-end-
--
--------------------------------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info
Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661/276-3449
FAX 661/276-3566
Frederick A. Johnsen
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Phone: 661/276-2998
RELEASE: 05-57
X-15 SPACE PIONEERS NOW HONORED AS ASTRONAUTS
In a turbulent era of 1960s Cold War confrontations, moon race
headlines, and war in southeast Asia, eight military and civilian
test pilots flew the radical X-15 rocket plane out of the atmosphere
and into the record books, earning astronaut status. Until today,
three of those early astronaut test pilots never received official
recognition of their lofty membership as astronauts because only the
military had astronaut wings to confer on their pilots at that time.
Civilian NASA pilots had no such badge.
That inequity was rectified today when retired NASA pilot Bill Dana,
and family members representing deceased pilots John B. McKay and
Joseph A. Walker, received civilian astronaut wings acknowledging
their flights above 264,000 feet altitude -- 50 miles high. The men
were honored in a quiet ceremony at NASA's Dryden Flight Research
Center on Edwards Air Force Base in California, site of their
achievements.
Bill Dana was philosophical about it: NASA pilots didn't wear wings
anyway, and the concept of winning special wings was probably more
crucial to a military pilot's career ladder, he explained.
Dana's first of two flights into space took him 58.13 miles above the
Mojave Desert on Nov. 1, 1966 on a mission to collect micrometeorite
samples, while also learning about issues of sky brightness at that
height.
Joe Walker's third X-15 foray into space claimed the unofficial world
altitude record of 354,200 feet, or 67.08 miles, on Aug. 22, 1963.
Walker's unofficial record also marked the highest altitude to which
the X-15 was ever flown.
John McKay attained 295,600 feet altitude, or 55.98 miles, on Sept.
28, 1965 during during a flight that investigated several research
experiments.
The X-15 program used three piloted hypersonic rocket planes to fly as
high as 67 miles and as fast as nearly seven times the speed of
sound. Volumes of test data gleaned from 199 X-15 missions from 1959
through 1968 helped shape the successful Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and
Space Shuttle human spaceflight programs. Two retired X-15s are
displayed at the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C., and
the Air Force Museum, Dayton, Ohio.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
Still photos and video footage are available to support this release.
Photos are available on the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Internet web site at:
http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Photo/X-15/index.html
Additional photos of the astronaut wings presentation ceremony will be
posted on Aug. 24 at:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html.
TELEVISION EDITORS: Interview segments and B-roll footage to support
this release will be aired during the Video File feeds on NASA TV
beginning on Aug. 24. NASA TV is carried on the Web and on an MPEG-2
digital signal accessed via satellite AMC-6, at 72 degrees west
longitude, transponder 17C, 4040 MHz, vertical polarization. It's
available in Alaska and Hawaii on AMC-7, at 137 degrees west
longitude, transponder 18C, at 4060 MHz, horizontal polarization. A
Digital Video Broadcast compliant Integrated Receiver Decoder is
required for reception. For NASA TV information and schedules on the
Web, visit http://www.nasa.gov/ntv
-end-
--
--------------------------------------
Jacques :-)
www.spacepatches.info