North American X-15

X-15
X-15 in flight.jpg
Role Rocket-powered aircraft
Manufacturer North American Aviation
First flight 8 June 1959
Introduced 17 September 1959
Retired December 1968
Status Museum piece
Primary users U.S.Air Force
NASA
Number built 3

The North American X-15 rocket-powered aircraft was part of the X-series of experimental aircraft, initiated with the Bell X-1, that were made for the USAF, the NASA, and the USN . The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the early 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. It currently holds the world record for the fastest speed ever reached by an aircraft.[1]

During the X-15 program, 13 flights (by eight pilots) met the USAF spaceflight criteria by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80.47 km), thus qualifying the pilots for astronaut status; some pilots also qualified for NASA astronaut wings. [2][3]

Of all the X-15 missions, two flights (by the same pilot) qualified as space flights, per the international FAI definition of a spaceflight by exceeding a 100 kilometer (62.137 mi, 328,084 ft) altitude.

Contents

Design and development

X-15 just after release.
X-15 touching down on its skids. Compare jettisoned lower ventral fin with color picture, top.

The X-15 based on a concept study from Walter Dornberger for the NACA for a hypersonic research aircraft. [4] The requests for proposal were published on 30 December 1954 for the airframe and on 4 February 1955 for the rocket engine. The X-15 was built by two manufacturers: North American Aviation was contracted for the airframe in November 1955, and Reaction Motors was contracted for building the engines in 1956.

The first X-15 flight was an unpowered test flight by Scott Crossfield, on 8 June 1959; he also piloted the first powered flight, on 17 September 1959, with his first XLR-99 flight on 15 November 1960.

Like most X-series aircraft, the X-15 was designed to be carried aloft, under the wing of a B-52 bomber plane. The X-15 fuselage was long and cylindrical, with rear fairings that flattened its appearance, and thick, dorsal and ventral wedge-fin stabilizers. Parts of the fuselage were heat-resistant nickel alloy (Inconel-X 750).[4] The retractable landing gear comprised a nose-wheel carriage and two rear skis. The skis did not extend beyond the ventral fin, which required the pilot to jettison the lower fin (fitted with a parachute) just before landing. The two XLR-11 rocket engines for the initial X-15A model delivered 72kN (16,000 lbft) of total thrust; the main engine (installed later) was a single XLR-99 rocket engine delivering 254kN (57,000 lbft) at sea level, and 311 kN (70,000 lbft) at peak altitude.

Before 1958, USAF and NACA, (later NASA), officials discussed an orbital X-15 spacecraft — the X-15B — for launching to outer space atop an SM-64 Navajo missile, that was cancelled when the NACA became the NASA, and Project Mercury was approved. By 1959, the X-20 Dyna-Soar space-glider program became the USAF's preferred means for launching military manned-spacecraft into orbit; the program was cancelled in the early 1960s.

Operational history

Three X-15s were built, flying 199 test flights, the last on 24 October 1968. Twelve test pilots flew the X-15, among them were Neil Armstrong (first man on the moon) and Joe Engle (a space shuttle commander). In July and August 1963, pilot Joe Walker crossed the 100 km altitude mark twice, thus joining the NASA astronauts and Soviet Cosmonauts as the only men to have crossed the barrier into outer space (Alan Shepard was the first American in space, while Soviet Yuri Gagarin was the first human being in space).

U.S. Air Force Test pilot Maj. Michael J. Adams was killed, on 15 November 1967, in X-15 Flight 191 when his craft (X-15-3) entered a hypersonic spin while descending, then oscillated violently as aerodynamic forces increased after re-entry. As his craft's flight control system operated the control surfaces to their limits, the craft's acceleration built to ±15 degrees vertical and ±8 degrees lateral. The airframe broke apart at 60,000 ft altitude, scattering the craft's wreckage for 50 square miles. On 8 June 2004, a monument was erected at the cockpit's locale, near Randsburg, California. [5] Maj. Adams was posthumously awarded astronaut wings for his final flight in craft X-15-3, which had reached 266,000 ft (81.1 km, 50.4 mi.) of altitude. In 1991, his name was added to the Astronaut Memorial monument, Kennedy Space Center, Florida.

Bomber NB-52A (s/n 52-003), permanent test variant, carrying an X-15, with mission markings; horizontal X-15 craft silhouettes denote glide flights, diagonal silhouettes denote powered flights.

The second X-15A was rebuilt after a landing accident. It was lengthened 2.4 ft (0.74 m), a pair of auxiliary fuel tanks attached under the fuselage, and a heat-resistant surface treatment applied. Re-named the X-15A-2, it first flew on 28 June 1964, reaching 7,274 km/h (4,520 mph, 2,021 m/s).

The altitudes attained by the X-15 aircraft do not match that of Alan Shephard's 1961 NASA spacecapsule flight (116 miles), nor subsequent NASA spacecapsules and space shuttle flights. However, the X-15 flights did reign supreme among rocket-powered aircraft until the third spaceflight of Space Ship One in 2004. The widely-reported record achieved, by the small X-43A scramjet testbed, on 16 November 2004, of approximately Mach 10 (6,600 mph, 10,622 km/h, 2.95 km/s) at 95,000 ft (29 km, 17.99 mi) is an air-breathing jet engine record.

Five aircraft were the X-15 program: three X-15s, two B-52 bombers:

A 200th flight over Nevada was slated for 21 November 1968, piloted by William J. Knight. Technical problems and bad weather delayed the flight six times, and on 20 December 1968, the 200th flight was finally cancelled. The X-15 was unfastened from the wing of bomber NB-52A, and prepared for indefinite storage.

Survivors

Specifications (X-15)

X-15 3-view

General characteristics

Performance

Record flights

Highest flights

In the United States there are two definitions of how high a person must go to be referred to as an astronaut. The USAF decided to award astronaut wings to anyone who achieved an altitude of 50 miles (80.47 km) or more. However the FAI set the limit of space at 100 km. Thirteen X-15 flights went higher than 50 miles (80.47 km) and two of these reached over 62.137 miles (100 km).

X-15 flights higher than 50 miles (80 km)
Flight Date Top speed Altitude Pilot
Flight 62 17 July 1962 3,831 mph 59.6 miles Robert M. White
Flight 77 17 January 1963 3,677 mph 51.4 miles Joe Walker
Flight 87 27 June 1963 3,425 mph 53.9 miles Robert Rushworth
Flight 90 19 July 1963 3,710 mph 65.8 miles Joe Walker
Flight 91 22 August 1963 3,794 mph 67.0 miles Joe Walker
Flight 138 29 June 1965 3,431 mph 53.1 miles Joseph H. Engle
Flight 143 10 August 1965 3,549 mph 51.3 miles Joseph H. Engle
Flight 150 28 September 1965 3,731 mph 55.9 miles John B. McKay
Flight 153 14 October 1965 3,554 mph 50.4 miles Joseph H. Engle
Flight 174 1 November 1966 3,750 mph 58.1 miles Bill Dana
Flight 190 17 October 1967 3,856 mph 53.1 miles Pete Knight
Flight 191 15 November 1967 3,569 mph 50.3 miles Michael J. Adams
Flight 197 21 August 1968 3,443 mph 50.6 miles Bill Dana

fatal

Fastest flights

X-15 10 fastest flights
Flight Date Top Speed Altitude Pilot
Flight 45 9 November 1961 4,092 mph 19.2 miles Robert M. White
Flight 59 27 June 1962 4,104 mph 23.4 miles Joe Walker
Flight 64 26 July 1962 3,989 mph 18.7 miles Neil Armstrong
Flight 86 25 June 1963 3,910 mph 21.7 miles Joe Walker
Flight 89 18 July 1963 3,925 mph 19.8 miles Robert Rushworth
Flight 97 5 December 1963 4,017 mph 19.1 miles Robert Rushworth
Flight 105 29 April 1964 3,905 mph 19.2 miles Robert Rushworth
Flight 137 22 June 1965 3,938 mph 29.5 miles John B. McKay
Flight 175 18 November 1966 4,250 mph 18.7 miles Pete Knight
Flight 188 3 October 1967 4,519 mph 36.3 miles Pete Knight

X-15 pilots

X-15 pilots and their achievements during the program
Pilot Organization Total
Flights
USAF
space
flights
FAI
space
flights
Max
Mach
Max
speed
(mph)
Max
altitude
(miles)
Michael J. Adams U.S. Air Force 7 1 0 5.59 3,822 50.3
Neil Armstrong NASA 7 0 0 5.74 3,989 39.2
Scott Crossfield North American Aviation 14 0 0 2.97 1,959 15.3
Bill Dana NASA 16 0 0 5.53 3,897 58.1
Joseph H. Engle U.S. Air Force 16 3 0 5.71 3,887 53.1
Pete Knight U.S. Air Force 16 1 0 6.70 4,519 53.1
John B. McKay NASA 29 0 0 5.65 3,863 55.9
Forrest S. Petersen U.S. Navy 5 0 0 5.3 3,600 19.2
Robert A. Rushworth U.S. Air Force 34 1 0 6.06 4,017 53.9
Milt Thompson NASA 14 0 0 5.48 3,723 40.5
Joe Walker U.S. Air Force 25 3 2 5.92 4,104 67.0
Robert M. White* U.S. Air Force 16 1 0 6.04 4,092 59.6
Killed  • * White was backup for Capt. Iven Kincheloe

See also

Comparable aircraft

Related lists

References

Notes

  1. "Aerospaceweb.org | Aircraft Museum X-15". Aerospaceweb.org, 24 November 2008.
  2. Jenkins, Dennis R. Space Shuttle: The History of the National Space Transportation System: The First 100 Missions, 3rd edition. Stillwater, Minnesota: Voyageur Press, 2001. ISBN 0-9633974-5-1.
  3. "NASA astronaut wings award ceremony". NASA Press Release, 23 August 2005.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Käsmann 1999, p. 105.
  5. X-15A Crash site
  6. United States Air Force Museum 1975, p. 73.

Bibliography

External links