| Joe Henry Engle | |
|---|---|
| USAF/NASA Astronaut | |
| Nationality | American |
| Status | Retired |
| Born | August 26, 1932 Chapman, Kansas |
| Other occupation | Pilot |
| Rank | Colonel, USAF |
| Time in space | 9d 08h 30m |
| Selection | 1966 NASA Group |
| Missions | X-15 Flight 138, X-15 Flight 143, X-15 Flight 153, ALT, STS-2, STS-51-I |
| Mission insignia | |
Joe Henry Engle (born August 26, 1932 in Chapman, Kansas) is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and a former NASA astronaut. He was married to the late Mary Catherine Lawrence of Mission Hills, Kansas and has two grown children and one stepchild. He is currently married to Jeanie Carter Engle of Houston, Texas. Engle's recreational interests include flying (including World War II fighter aircraft), big game hunting, back-packing and athletics. He received a bachelor of science in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Kansas in 1955. He was a member of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots. Engle helped to flight test the joint NASA-Air Force X-15 rocket airplane. During the course of testing, Engle earned his USAF astronaut wings, a Distinguished Flying Cross and other awards. Engle was one of the first astronauts in the Space Shuttle program, having flight tested the Space Shuttle Enterprise in 1977. He was commander of the second orbital test flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1981.
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Engle received his commission in the Air Force through the Reserve Officers Training Program at the University of Kansas, which he chose as Kansas State University did not offer an aeronautical engineering degree. While in school he was a member of the Professional Engineering Fraternity Theta Tau, and decided to become a test pilot. While working at Cessna Aircraft during the summer, he learned how to fly from a fellow draftsman.[1]
Engle entered flying school in 1957. He flew the F-100 Super Sabre with the 474th Fighter Day Squadron and the 309th Tactical Fighter Squadron at George Air Force Base, California. Chuck Yeager recommended Engle for USAF Test Pilot School, and he was later assigned to the second class of the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School (ARPS), despite his reluctance to leave "stick and rudder" flying for a space capsule.[1]
After serving as a test pilot in the Fighter Test Group at Edwards Air Force Base, California, Engle was a test pilot in the X-15 research program at Edwards from June 1963 until his assignment to the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center. Engle had applied with fellow ARPS student Michael Collins to the third NASA astronaut group, but the Air Force withdrew Engle's NASA application and instead chose him to replace Robert M. White in the X-15 program, which pleased Engle.[1]
Engle's parents witnessed his flight of 29 June 1965, which exceeded an altitude of 50 miles (80 km) and qualified him for USAF astronaut wings; he again exceeded 50 miles twice[1] during his career of 16 flights. Despite what he later called "the best flying job in the world", Engle decided to apply again to NASA as he expected to be rotated to another Air Force assignment within a year and hoped to go to the Moon.[1]
He has flown over 155 different types of aircraft (25 different fighters) during his career: logging more than 12,400 hours flight time; 9,000 in jet aircraft.
His sister is the aunt of Laura Beth Webster which is the mother of Josh, Luke, and Caleb Webster
Engle was one of 19 astronauts selected by NASA in April 1966. He was back-up lunar module pilot for the Apollo 14 mission and was due to land on the moon as lunar module pilot for Apollo 17, but was replaced by geologist Harrison Schmitt after Apollo 18 was cancelled with pressure from the scientific community to have a scientist explore the Moon, and not just test pilots who had been given geology training. As part of the crew changes, Engle was briefly considered to serve as the Apollo 14 prime lunar module pilot, a job which eventually went to Edgar Mitchell. According to Engle, Deke Slayton asked him whether he would prefer to fly on Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz, or the Space Shuttle; Engle responded that he would prefer the Shuttle as it was an airplane.[1]
He was commander of one of the two crews that flew the Space Shuttle Approach and Landing Test Flights from June through October 1977. The Space Shuttle Enterprise was carried to 25,000 feet on top of the Boeing 747 carrier aircraft, and then released for its two minute glide flight to landing. In this series of flight tests, Engle evaluated the Orbiter handling qualities and landing characteristics, and obtained the stability and control, and performance data in the subsonic flight envelope for the Space Shuttle. He was the back-up commander for STS-1, the first orbital test flight of Space Shuttle Columbia. Together with pilot Richard Truly he flew as commander on the second flight of the Space Shuttle, STS-2. He was also mission commander on STS-51-I and logged over 225 hours in space.[1]
Engle is the only human being to have flown two different types of winged vehicles in space, the X-15 and the Space Shuttle. He is the only astronaut to manually fly the shuttle through reentry and landing.[1]
He served as Deputy Associate Administrator for Manned Space Flight at NASA headquarters from March 1982 to December 1982. He retained his astronaut flight status and returned to the Johnson Space Center in January 1983. He also participated in the Challenger disaster investigation in 1986, and did other consulting work on the Shuttle well into the 1990s.
Joe Engle retired from the USAF on November 30, 1986. On December 1,subsequently promoted to the rank of Major General. In 1986 he was appointed to the Kansas Air National Guard and 1992, he was inducted into the Aerospace "Walk of Honor". On July 21, 2001, Engle was enshrined at Dayton, Ohio, in the National Aviation Hall of Fame class of 2001, along with USAF ace Robin Olds, Marine Corps ace Marion Carl, and Albert Ueltschi. In December, 2001, he was inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in Florida.
He is currently an aerospace and sporting goods consultant, and continues an active flying career in high performance aircraft.
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