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A Brief History of The X-15
A Brief History of The X-15
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North Anmerican Aviation. Thi;3 program was devised to assess
the piletis ability to make emergency reentry into earth
atmosphere follow ing control damper failures and to determine
p.I.lt. limtitations In accolmplishing safe recovery from
extremely high altitudes. The studies revealed no diffi-
culties in either case.
The second X-15 technical conference was held in the
summer of 1958 in Los Angeles, Calif. Several technical
papers were presented descrIbing the developmental status
of the X-15 and other subjects such as stability and control,
simulator testing, pilot considerations, mission instru-
mentation, etc.
The first X-15 was complc;-- by the contractor on
October 15, 1958. The aircraft ;, transported the following
lay to Edwards and here preparations were begun for the first
captive flight. A series of captive missions to check out
systems was completed during March, April and May. On June 8,
1959, Crossfield made the first glide flight for the contractor
demonstration trials. This initial powerless flight lasted
about frve minutes. Most of the aircraft's systems perform.ed
satisfactorily.
Meanwhile, X-15 No. 2 was undergoing ground runs at
Edwards in May and June. During July and August, several
attempts at powered fJlight were cancelled because of leaks
in the auxiliary power unLts and malfunctions caused by
propellant-tank pressure regulators.
On September 17, 195q, Scott Crossfield Successfully
completed the first powered flight in the X-15-2. He
attained a speed of Mach 2.1 (1350 mph) and an altitude of
52,341 feet.
The third flight in the,contractor's demonstration
program occurred on November 5, 1959, Following launch from
the B-52 carrier plane at 44i,000 feet, an explosion in the
X-15 engine diving the starting sequence blew off the last
few inches of one of the rocket chambers. After shutting
down the engine, the pilot jettisoned his remaining fuel
and headed Cor a landing on Rosamond Lake, west of Rogers
Lake at Edwards main base. The front landing gear failed at
touchd wn, causing the X-15 virtually to break in two just
aft of the instrument bay. The fuselage skidded about 1,500
Pee., ausirg extensive damage to the aircraft, which was
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tturn d to North American Aviation for repairs.
E rly in 1960, after additional contractor flights in
X-15 N1. 1, this airplane was delivered to the Air Force and
turned over to NASA to begin itt3 research flight program. The
first Government flight was completed on March 25, 1960, with
Walker as pilot.
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During the first three months of 1962 the flight program
was delayed because of unusually heavy rain and snow in the
Base at Edwards. ProJect officials took i'Aiis opportunity to
make a number of engineering changes and modifications to the
three X-15 airplanes.
Of primary concern was the potential hazard in the lack
of the stability-augmentation in the event the system failed
during reentry from high altitude. An auxiliary system has
since been installed in X-15 Nos. 1 and 2. It is an inde-
pendent unit which can be energized manually or automatically
by the pilot in the event of a SAS failure.
The problem of pressurization failures during a number
of flights in 1962 was eliminated by the installation of a 9
pressure-sensing unit to supplement the standard temperature-
sensing control. No pressurization failures have been
experienced since this change. J
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