X-15 Rocket Plane

With the Soviet Uniona's launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957 the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. The X-15 Rocket Plane tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15 the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight.Drawing on interviews with those who were there Michelle Evans captures the drama and excitement of yes rocket science: how to handle the heat generated at speeds up to Mach 7 how to make a rocket propulsion system that could throttle and how to safely re-enter the atmosphere from space and make a precision landing.This book puts a human face on the feats of science and engineering that went into the X-15 program many of them critical to the development of the Space Shuttle. And finally it introduces us to the largely unsung pilots of the X-15. By the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing thirty-one American astronauts had flown into spacea"eight of them astronaut-pilots of the X-15. The X-15 Rocket Plane restores these pioneers and the others who made it happen to their rightful place in the history of spaceflight.