Dark Space Official on MSN

X-15 flight 90, the NASA test that accidentally crossed the edge of space and made a civilian astronaut

In July 1963, NASA’s X-15 was supposed to fly a carefully planned high-altitude test. Instead, small deviations pushed it past the Kármán line, turning Joe Walker into the first American civilian in ...
Dark Space Official on MSN

Flight 90 and the X-15, how a small test deviation turned a research plane into America’s first civilian spaceflight

In 1963, a routine X-15 test flight climbed just a little higher than planned, carrying pilot Joseph Walker beyond the Kármán Line and into space. This is the precise chain of decisions, physics, and ...
The Aviationist

Going Hypersonic: A Look at the Record-setting X-15

An important part of data collection for the United States space program, the North American X-15 had astonishing performance utilizing the technology of the 1950s and 60s. The North American X-15 was ...
insider.si.edu

Audiotapes, X-15 Cockpit Tapes, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, (NASA) X-15 Flight, Speed Run

A. Scott Crossfield Papers, Accession number 2006-0041, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution. A. Scott Crossfield Papers, Acc. 2006-0041, National ...