X-15
The family behind Quest Aerospace
literally wrote the book on Model Rocketry. They've been offering affordable
and exciting kits since 1991 under president Bill Stine. Bill's dad Harry
wrote "The
Handbook of Model Rocketry" and founded the National
Association of Rocketry in 1957. This sweet model of the experimental
rocket powered aircraft "X-15" is real sharp. At 16.25" long
and weighing in at 1.69 oz our X-15 can reach altitudes up to 900 feet.
It looks just as dangerous as the one hanging in the Smithsonian
Air and Space Museum.
the X-15 enters the planet andy
record books on August 6, 2005.
In 1967 the X-15 experimental rocket-powered aircraft reached
a record speed of Mach 6.72 at an altitude of 108 km. The X-15 program was
a joint effort between NASA and USAF between 1959 and 1968. This joint program
by NASA, the Air Force, the Navy, and North American operated the most remarkable
of all the rocket research aircraft. Composed of an internal structure of
titanium and a skin surface of a chrome-nickel alloy known as Inconel X,
the X-15 had its first, unpowered glide flight on June 8, 1959, while the
first powered flight took place on September 17, 1959. Because of the large
fuel consumption of its rocket engine, the X-15 was air launched from a
B-52 aircraft at about 45,000 ft and speeds upward of 500 mph. The airplane
first set speed records in the Mach 4-6 range with Mach 4.43 on March 7,
1961; Mach 5.27 on June 23, 1961; Mach 6.04 on November 9, 1961; and Mach
6.7 on October 3, 1967. It also set an altitude record of 354,200 feet (67
miles) on August 22, 1963, and provided an enormous wealth of data on hypersonic
air flow, aerodynamic heating, control and stability at hypersonic speeds,
reaction controls for flight above the atmosphere, piloting techniques for
reentry, human factors, and flight instrumentation. The highly successful
program contributed to the development of the Mercury,
Gemini, and Apollo piloted
spaceflight programs as well as the Space Shuttle program. The program's
final flight was performed on October 24, 1968.
source: NASA HISTORY
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