Astronaut Joe Engle Flies X-15
The former NASA astronaut, Joe Engle, poses in front of an X-15 aircraft in this photo of December 2, 1965. On June 29, 1965, Engle stole the X-15 to 280,600 feet, becoming the youngest American pilot to qualify as astronaut.
The native of Kansas piloted the X-15 for the US Air Force 16 times from 1963 to 1965. Three times that Angle stole an X-15 greater than 50 miles (the altitude required for the rating of astronauts), officially qualifying it for the Air Force astronaut wings and providing him with a brief moment to make the spectacle on the edge of the space.
“You can take a look and see the darkness of the space above and the earth extremely brilliant below. The horizon had the same colored bands as you see shuttle, with black on top, then deep indigo purple, then blues and whites,” he said.
Image credit: NASA
