Download or read book The X 15 Rocket Plane written by Michelle L. Evans and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the Soviet Union’s launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. The X-15 Rocket Plane tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight. Drawing on interviews with those who were there, Michelle Evans captures the drama and excitement of, yes, rocket science: how to handle the heat generated at speeds up to Mach 7, how to make a rocket propulsion system that could throttle, and how to safely reenter the atmosphere from space and make a precision landing. This book puts a human face on the feats of science and engineering that went into the X-15 program, many of them critical to the development of the Space Shuttle. And, finally, it introduces us to the largely unsung pilots of the X-15. By the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing, thirty-one American astronauts had flown into space—eight of them astronaut-pilots of the X-15. The X-15 Rocket Plane restores these pioneers, and the others who made it happen, to their rightful place in the history of spaceflight.
Download or read book X 15 written by Dennis R. Jenkins and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2010-12-08 with total page 704 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The X-15 was the ultimate "X" vehicle. Built in the 1950s, she became the fastest and highest-flying winged aircraft of its time. During 199 flights from 1959 through 1968, she collected data about hypersonic flight that was invaluable to aeronautics and to developers of the space shuttle. This book describes the genesis of the program, the design and construction of the aircraft, years of research flights and the experiments that flew aboard them.-publisher description.
Download or read book X 15 Diary written by Richard Tregaskis and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built of titanium and a chrome-nickel alloy known as Inconel X, the X-15 was the fastest plane ever built, streaking through the lower reaches of outer space even before the first space capsules reached orbit. First tested in 1959, the X-15 proved to be a crucial testing ground for the astronauts and hardware in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, and even the Space Shuttle programs. ø The dramatic tale of the golden age of this experimental plane comes vividly to life through the writing of the celebrated reporter Richard Tregaskis, who spent time with the pilots, engineers, and other key personnel involved in the project. We learn of the years of planning and design, devastating onboard explosions, exhilarating triumphs, and, above all, the personal and professional sacrifices that paved the way for the enduring legacy of the blisteringly fast X-15 rocket plane.
Download or read book X Planes from the X 1 to the X 60 written by Michael H. Gorn and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2022-01-01 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Foreword by Dr. Roger D. Launius, Former NASA Chief Historian For the past 75 years, the U.S. government has invested significant time and money into advanced aerospace research, as evidenced by its many experimental X-plane aircraft and rockets. NASA's X-Planes asks a simple question: What have we gained from it all? To answer this question, the authors provide a comprehensive overview of the X-plane’s long history, from the 1946 X-1 to the modern X-60. The chapters describe not just the technological evolution of these models, but also the wider story of politics, federal budgets, and inter-agency rivalries surrounding them. The book is organized into two sections, with the first covering the operational X-planes that symbolized the Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R, and the second section surveying post-Cold War aircraft and spacecraft. Featuring dozens of original illustrations of X-plane cross-sections, in-flight profiles, close-ups, and more, this book will educate general readers and specialists alike.
Download or read book Beyond Blue Skies written by Christopher J. Petty and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1945 some experts still considered the so-called sound barrier an impenetrable wall, while winged rocket planes remained largely relegated to science fiction. But soon a series of unique rocket-powered research aircraft and the dedicated individuals who built, maintained, and flew them began to push the boundaries of flight in aviation's quest to move ever higher, ever faster, toward the unknown. Beyond Blue Skies examines the thirty-year period after World War II during which aviation experienced an unprecedented era of progress that led the United States to the boundaries of outer space. Between 1946 and 1975, an ancient dry lakebed in California's High Desert played host to a series of rocket-powered research aircraft built to investigate the outer reaches of flight. The western Mojave's Rogers Dry Lake became home to Edwards Air Force Base, NASA's Flight Research Center, and an elite cadre of test pilots. Although one of them--Chuck Yeager--would rank among the most famous names in history, most who flew there during those years played their parts away from public view. The risks they routinely accepted were every bit as real as those facing NASA's astronauts, but no magazine stories or free Corvettes awaited them--just long days in a close-knit community in the High Desert. The role of not only the test pilots but the engineers, aerodynamicists, and support staff in making supersonic flight possible has been widely overlooked. Beyond Blue Skies charts the triumphs and tragedies of the rocket-plane era and the unsung efforts of the men and women who made amazing achievements possible.
Download or read book North American X 15 written by Peter E. Davies and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The revolutionary X-15 remains the fastest manned aircraft ever to fly. Built in the two decades following World War II, it was the most successful of the high-speed X-planes. The only recently broken 'sound barrier' was smashed completely by the X-15, which could hit Mach 6.7 and soar to altitudes above 350,000ft, beyond the edge of space. Several pilots qualified as astronauts by flying above 50 miles altitude in the X-15, including Neil Armstrong, the first man on the Moon. The three X-15s made 199 flights, testing new technologies and techniques which greatly eased America's entry into manned space travel, and made the Apollo missions and Space Shuttle viable propositions. With historical photographs and stunning digital artwork, this is the story of arguably the greatest of the X-Planes.
Download or read book North American X 15 Owner s Workshop Manual written by Dr. David Baker and published by Haynes Publishing UK. This book was released on 2016-01-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique Haynes Manual, providing fascinating technical insight into the development and use of rocket planes, focusing on the iconic X-15, which carried out much of the development work for the Apollo and Space Shuttle space programmes. As of July 2015, the X-15 still holds the world record for the highest speed ever attained by a manned aircraft, at 4,520mph (Mach 6.72)! The X-15 was flown by a band of elite test pilots, including the first man to walk on the Moon, Neil Armstrong. The X-15 made 199 flights between 1959 and 1968, several of which were above the line considered to be the arbitrary altitude where space begins. The engaging text, extensively illustrated with period photographs and technical illustrations, explains how the vehicle worked, what it pioneered for future applications in more conventional aircraft and manned spacecraft developed by NASA from 1958, and what it was like to fly.
Download or read book At the Edge of Space written by Milton O. Thompson and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2003-02-17 with total page 426 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Megafast Planes written by John Farndon and published by Hungry Tomato ®. This book was released on 2016-01-01 with total page 36 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you ready to take off with the world's fastest supersonic aircraft? Strap yourself in for a trip in the MiG-25 Foxbat interceptor and clock up to 2,100 mph (3,380 kmh/h)! Soar in the NAA X-15 rocket plane, which set a record of 4,520 mph (7,274 km/h) in 1967! Hop into the world's fastest jet, the NASA Hyper X-43 scramjet, but hang on—it has the potential to go 7,000 mph (11,265 km/h)! Detailed illustrations put you in the cockpits of these mighty, streaking aircraft, while bite-sized facts explain how they work, their pilots' daring risks, and the thrill of supersonic flight.
Download or read book Higher and Faster written by Robert M. White and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2014-01-10 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1961, pilot Robert M. White flew a hypersonic rocket-powered airplane six times faster than the speed of sound and higher than 300,000 feet above the Earth's surface. This is his story. Tracing his childhood on the rough streets of Manhattan during the Depression, his years as a pilot and POW during World War II, his service in Korea and Vietnam and his rise as an experimental test pilot in the Air Force, this autobiography is a testament to the role of persistence and excellence in the life of a man whose aeronautical feats are now legend. It is the portrait of an extraordinary man in pursuit of the American dream and a glimpse into a remarkable time in America's aviation history.
Download or read book On the Frontier written by Richard P. Hallion and published by . This book was released on 1984 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hypersonics Before the Shuttle A Concise History of the X 15 Research Airplane written by and published by . This book was released on 2000 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book X 15 written by John Anderson and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2014-02-15 with total page 145 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In X-15, the exciting story of the hypersonic X-15--the first space plane--is beautifully illustrated with NASA photographs and exclusive photography of the X-15 from the National Air and Space Museum.
Download or read book Rocketing Into the Future written by Michel van Pelt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-05-30 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the technology, history, and future of rocket planes. Michel van Pelt journies into this exciting world, examining the exotic concepts and actual flying vehicles that have been devised over the last hundred years. He recounts the history of rocket airplanes, from the early pioneers who attached simple rockets onto their wooden glider airplanes to the modern world of high-tech research vehicles. The author visits museums where rare examples of early rocket planes are kept and modern laboratories where future spaceplanes are being developed. He explains the technology in an easily understandable way, describing the various types of rocket airplanes and looking at the possibilities for the future. Michel van Pelt considers future spaceplanes, presenting various modern concepts and developments. He describes the development from cutting edge research via demonstrator vehicles to operational use. He also evaluates the replacement of the Space Shuttle with a seemingly old-fashioned capsule system, the parallel developments in suborbital spaceplanes such as SpaceShipOne and SpaceShipTwo, piloted versus automatic flight, and related developments in airliners and military aircraft.
Download or read book North American X 15 written by David Baker and published by Essentia Books. This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developed in the mid-1950s by the US military and operated by NASA between 1959 and 1968, the X-15s were the first rocket-powered hypersonic research aircraft. They made 199 flights and reached speeds in excess of 4,000 mph and altitudes above 270,000 ft, considered to be beyond the atmosphere and into the vacuum of space. The book begins with a description of the X-series aircraft research program started in the latter stages of the World War II, successfully pushing through the sound barrier for the first time in 1947. The X-15 was a great leap forward from the early X-series research aircraft and brought forward many new technologies, pioneering the use of attitude control thrusters, telemetry for real-time data transmission from sensors on the airframe and examining the optimum ways to re-enter the atmosphere. The X-15 did much to explore this design and applications of winged vehicles as future spacecraft, introducing science and engineering to the problems associated with reusable space vehicles capable of putting down on land rather than water as ballistic capsules did. It partnered research into 'Lifting Bodies', optimally shaped airframes which were the precursors to the Space Shuttle. Three X-15s were built and one was lost following re-entry from high altitude but the other two continued flying. A second airframe was severely damaged but rebuilt for exploring flight close to Mach 7. Several famous pilots flew the X-15, including Neil Armstrong, commander of Apollo 11 and the first man to walk on the moon.
Download or read book The X 15 Rocket Plane written by Michelle Evans and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2022-05 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of the X-15, the pioneering research flight program in the fifties and sixties, and its pilots.
Download or read book Neil Armstrong A Life of Flight written by Jay Barbree and published by Macmillan Publishers Aus.. This book was released on 2014-07-01 with total page 594 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everything written about Armstong's life and flights has been from the outside looking in; Jay Barbree is the only person whom Neil Armstrong trusted to share close personal details about his inspiring life story. Working from his years of notes, and with the Armstrong family, Jay Barbree has written the definitive biography of America's most famous astronaut and one of our greatest modern heroes. Armstrong has entrusted Barbree with details of his personal life, including his two marriages and the death of his baby daughter. And, of course, there is the inside story of an extraordinary career, from the time Armstrong flew combat missions in the Korean War and then flew a rocket plane called the X-15 to the edge of space, to when he saved his Gemini 8 by flying the first emergency return from Earth orbit and then flew Apollo-Eleven to the moon's Sea of Tranquillity. Full of never-before-seen photos, this book includes many personal details such as what Armstrong really felt when he took that first step on the moon, and what he felt the future of space exploration should be.
