- X-15 Flight 91
Infobox Space mission
mission_name = X-15 Flight 91
spacecraft_name =
command_module =
service_module =
lunar_module =
booster =
shuttle =
insignia = X-15_insignia.png
sign = X-15
crew_members = 1
launch_pad = NB-52A Flying near
Smith Ranch Dry Lake, NV
coord|39|20|N|117|29|W|
launch =August 22 ,1963
18:05:57 UTC
begin_spacewalk =
end_spacewalk =
lunar_landing =
lunar_eva_length =
lrv =
cmp_eva =
lunar_surface_time =
lunar_sample_mass =
landing =August 22 ,1963
18:17:05.6 UTC
Rogers Dry Lake,
Edwards AFB, CA
duration = 00:11:08.6
lunar_orbits =
time_lunar_orbits =
orbits =Suborbital
apogee = 107.96 km
perigee =
apolune =
perilune =
period =
altitude =
inclination =
distance = 543.4 km
mass = 15,195 kg fueled;
6,577 kg burnout;
6,260 kg landed
crew_photo = WalkerE-6682.jpg
crew_caption = Joe Walker
previous =X-15 Flight 90
next =X-15 Flight 92 Crew
Number in parentheses indicates number of spaceflights by each individual prior to and including this mission.
*Joseph A. Walker (2)Mission parameters
*Mass: 15,195 kg fueled; 6,577 kg burnout; 6,260 kg landed
*Maximum Altitude: 107.96 km
*Range: 543.4 km
*Burn Time: 85.8 seconds
*Mach: 5.58
*Launch Vehicle: NB-52A Bomber #003Mission highlights
Unofficial world altitude record from 1963 to 2004. On this flight, Joe Walker became the first person to enter space twice. Maximum Speed - 6106 km/h. Maximum Altitude - 107,960 m. Second and final X-15 flight over 100 km. Unofficial altitude record set for class. Highest altitude achieved by X-15. Last flight for Walker in X-15 program. Number 1 left RCS nozzle froze up. First flight with altitude predictor instrument (needed calibration).
The mission was flown by X-15 #3, serial 56-6672 on its 22nd flight.
Launched by: NB-52A #003, Pilots Bement & Lewis. Takeoff: 17:09 UTC. Landing: 18:56 UTC.
Chase pilots: Wood, Dana, Gordon and Rogers.
The X-15 engine burns about 85 seconds. Near the end of the burn, acceleration builds up to about 4 G (39 m/s²). Weightlessness lasts for 3 to 5 minutes. Re-entry heating warms the exterior of the X-15 to 650°C in places. During pull-up after re-entry acceleration builds up to 5 G (49 m/s²) for 20 seconds. The entire flight is about 12 minutes from launch to landing.
Pilot Robert White commented on his high altitude X-15 flights, "My flights to 217,000 feet [66 km] and 314,750 feet [96 km] were very dramatic in revealing the earth's curvature ... at my highest altitude I could turn my head through a 180º arc and wow! - the earth is really round. At my peak altitude I was roughly over the Arizona/California border in the area of Las Vegas, and this was how I described it: looking to my left I felt I could spit into the Gulf of California. Looking to my right I felt I could toss a dime into San Francisco Bay."
References
*X-15 The NASA Mission Reports - by Robert Godwin - ISBN 1-896522-65-3;
NASA reports (PDF format)
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20000068530_2000075022.pdf Hypersonics Before the Shuttle: A Concise History of the X-15 Research Airplane]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19650010561_1965010561.pdf X-15 research results with a selected bibliography]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19920075739_1992075739.pdf Flight experience with shock impingement and interference heating on the X-15-2 research airplane 1968]
* [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19680016245_1968016245.pdf Thermal protection system X-15A-2 Design report 1968]
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