This official NASA film covers the X-15 rocket research aircraft program of the 1960s. Though undated, references in the narrative suggest this film was made circa 1964 era. Photography of the X-15 flights at the edge of space and landings on dry lake beds are included. The film opens with scenes of the X-15 being launched from a United States Air Force jet (mark 01:10) as the narrator discusses “manned flight in a near-space environment” including structural design. Prior to the aircraft, we’re told starting at mark 02:10, scientists had wondered what would be man’s role — if any — in space. The X-15 helped answer those questions. (Among the most popular and productive X-planes, the X-15 flew high enough to earn astronaut wings for a number of its pilots.) The aircraft is shown landing at mark 03:11 as the narrator continues his lecture on the construction of the X-15, including interviews with some of the engineers and designers involved in its creation. There is also a bit of a history lesson on the X-plane, including the Bell X-1 (starting at mark 05:00), a rocket engine-powered aircraft that was the first to break the speed of sound, the Douglas D-558, the Northrup X-4, the Bell X-5, and the Douglas X-3. The various Bell aircraft are also shown such as the Bell X-1A, Bell X-2, and Bell X-1E. We learn about aerodynamic heating of aircraft beginning at mark 07:30 as well as aerodynamic control. Built to withstand hypersonic speed, the X-15, the film continues with a detailed lecture of the aircraft’s construction with scenes of engineers working on the X-15 before it changes its focus to the training of pilots (mark 12:43) and an interview with test pilot Scott Crossfield starting at mark 14:09, who adds first-hand accounts. We are then taken to Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert (mark 14:50) where the picture continues its discussion of each step of the flights and interviews Paul Bickle (mark 15:35), director of NASA’s flight research at the time, and X-15 test pilots Joe Walker (mark 16:06) and Milton Thompson (mark 16:30). As a test pilot walks toward the X-15 starting at mark 24:23, the narrator continues to tout the planning involved in the plane’s construction as well as the training. As the plane launches for another flight, the narrator salutes the pilots who have helped mankind move deeper into “the unknown outskirts of space.”

The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15’s official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft, set in October 1967 when William J. “Pete” Knight flew at 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h), or Mach 6.72, and has remained unchallenged as of 2016.

During the X-15 program, 13 flights by eight pilots met the Air Force spaceflight criterion by exceeding the altitude of 50 miles (80 km), thus qualifying these pilots as being astronauts. The Air Force pilots qualified for astronaut wings immediately, while the civilian pilots were eventually awarded NASA astronaut wings in 2005, 35 years after the last X-15 flight. The only Navy pilot in the X-15 program never took the aircraft above the requisite 50 mile altitude and so as a result, never earned himself astronaut wings.

Of the 199 X-15 missions, two flights (both by Joseph A. Walker) qualified as true space flights per the international (Fédération Aéronautique Internationale) definition of a spaceflight by exceeding 100 kilometers (62.1 mi) in altitude.

We encourage viewers to add comments and, especially, to provide additional information about our videos by adding a comment! See something interesting? Tell people what it is and what they can see by writing something for example: “01:00:12:00 — President Roosevelt is seen meeting with Winston Churchill at the Quebec Conference.”

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com