X-15 Powered Flight

September 17, 1959 -
The first powered flight of the X-15, piloted by Scott Crossfield.

My Flights Towards Space

The X-15 rocket motors firing for the first time in the air, is dropped off towards the unknown. At the controld, Scott Crossfield.

X-15 flights mean great strain on Crossfiled but, as he is sealed in tiny cockpit he shows no sign of worry

X-15 is the forerunner of spaceship. Scott Carpenter's special pressure suit shown here is prototype for spacemen of tomorrow.

from "My Flights Towards Space"
Royal Airforce Flying Review, September 1960

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

The Douglas Skyrocket

The Navy Skyrocket high-speed research plane

The Skyrocket just moments after being dropped by a B-29 mothership

The Douglas D558-2 Skyrocket

• Role: Experimental high-speed research aircraft
• Manufacturer: Douglas Aircraft Company
• First flight: 4 February 1948
• Primary user: U.S. Navy
• Number built: 3
• Developed from: D-558-1 Skystreak (straightwing)

General Characteristics

• Crew: one pilot
• Length: 42 ft 0 in (12.8 m)
• Wingspan: 25 ft 0 in (7.6 m)
• Height: 22 ft 8 in (3.8 m)
• Wing area: 175 ft² (16.2 m²)
• Empty weight: 9,421 lb (4,273 kg)
• Max takeoff weight: 15,266 lb (6,923 kg)
• Powerplant:
  • 1× Westinghouse J34-WE-40 turbojet, 3,000 lbf (13 kN)
  • 1× Reaction Motors XLR-8-RM-5 rocket engine, 6,000 lbf (27 kN)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 720 mph, 1,250 mph when air-launched (1,160 km/h, 2,010 km/h when air-launched)
• Stall speed: 160.1 mph (257.7 km/h)
• Service ceiling: 16,500 ft (5,030 m)
• Rate of climb: 22,400 ft/min, 11,100 ft/min under rocket power only (6,830 m/min., 3,380 m/min under rocket power only)
• Wing loading: 87.2 lb/ft² (426 kg/m²)
• Thrust/weight (jet): 0.39