[North American X-15]
[Amelia Earhart Lockheed 5B Vega]
[Bleriot XI Monoplane]
[Ryan NYP The Spirit of St. Louis]
[Space Shuttle Discovery]
[1903 Wright Flyer]
[Apollo 11 Lunar Moon Landing Module]
[Apollo 11 Columbia Moon Landing Command Module]
Setting a world record, that is still untouched today, the North American X-15 hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft helped launch space exploration into a reality. Operated by the United States Air Force and NASA congruently, the X-15 was able to reach the edges of the atmosphere and skim along the edges of space beyond this planet, providing data that was detrimental to space travel. A total of 12 pilots flew 199 flights in the 3 experimental X-15 spaceplanes during the program conducted from 1959 through 1968. The pilots came from NASA(5), US Air Force(5), Navy(1) and North American Aviation(1). This included Neil Armstrong, one of the US Air Force pilots, who would later become the first man on the Moon. Eight of these pilots immediately received their military astronaut wings, but in 2005, the rest of the pilots would be awarded their NASA astronaut wings as they had all exceeded the 50 mile altitude marker set by the Air Force spaceflight criterion needed for the presitigious award. The official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a crewed, powered aircraft was set by William John "Pete" Knight on October 3rd, 1967 in which he reached an astounding Mach 6.7 equivalent to 4,520 miles per hour!