X-15 Archives — Avgeekery.com

Extreme Punchout: The Ejection Seat of the X-15

The hypersonic speed and extreme altitude performance of the North American X-15 demanded one of the most complex ejection seats ever put into service. Earlier NASA research rocket aircraft like…

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Edwards AFB Tested The Kick-Ass Jets Of The ’60s, This Video Proves It

The United States Air Force (USAF) produced the promotional film “Toward the Unexplored” in 1967. The film features the history of Edwards Air Force Base (AFB) from its beginnings as…

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Only The Space Shuttle ‘flew’ Faster Than This Rocket Plane Designed With A Slide Rule

Today’s retrospective is the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) film “Research Project X-15.” Shot during the mid-1960s at various NASA locations and Edward Air Force Base (AFB) in California,…

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The X-15 Was Out Of This World

Prior to 1952 the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) had sponsored a progressive series of experimental aircraft—the X-planes—that had achieved speeds approaching the speed of sound (Mach 1) to…

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Balls Eight – The B-52 That Was The Mother of Mother Ships

How engineers used a B-52, affectionately referred to as ‘Balls Eight’, to rapidly advance our understanding of supersonic flight. The Challenge: The engineers have designed and developed a new aircraft that…

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