At the Edge of Space
The X-15 Flight Program
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- £13.99
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- £13.99
Publisher Description
In At the Edge of Space, Milton O. Thompson tells the dramatic story of one of the most successful research aircraft ever flown. The first full-length account of the X-15 program, the book profiles the twelve test pilots (Neil Armstrong, Joe Engle, Scott Crossfield, and the author among them) chosen for the program. Thompson has translated a highly technical subject into readable accounts of each pilot's participation, including many heroic and humorous anecdotes and highlighting the pilots' careers after the program ended in 1968.
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Initiated in the 1950s, the X-15 program tested a unique rocket-powered aircraft at supersonic speeds in the atmosphere's outer limits. The stubby-winged, needle-nosed craft achieved speeds of 4000 mph, could fly at altitudes of well over 200,000 feet and yielded data crucial to NASA's space missions. Thomson, one of the test pilots, traces the technical developments of the program, emphasizing the viewpoint of the men who (barely) controlled the unpredictable plane in the air. He demonstrates through a series of vivid anecdotes the effect of g forces, extreme vertigo and other mental and physical problems associated with supersonic flight. Thompson includes accounts of hair-raising emergency rescues and a somber description of the death of one of his colleagues during a 1967 test flight. Retired in 1968 along with the program itself, the X-15 now hangs in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Surprisingly, it is still the world's fastest airplane. Thompson's well-written history of the program captures the technical challenges, the camaraderie and, most of all, the high adventure of X-15 flight. Highly recommended. Photos.
