Maiden Flight of the X-15

June 8, 1959 - The X-15's maiden flight.

A technician straps test pilot Scott Crossfield into the cockpit of the missile-shaped X-15 rocket plane before flight. Crossfield is carried aloft in his sleek, black rocket plane beneath the wing of a B-52 from NASA's Flight Research Center. It's the beginning of flight research probing the hypersonic speed realm and altitudes at the edge of space.

Image Credit: NASA/North American Aviation