Twelve pilots were chosen for the X-15 rocket-powered aircraft test program: five from NASA, five from the Air Force, one from the Navy, and one from manufacturer North American Aviation. North American (and former NASA) test pilot Scott Crossfield made the first unpowered flight on June 8, 1959; William Dana piloted the final flight on October 24, 1968. In the course of the program, the X-15 set an unofficial world speed record of 4,520 mph (Mach 6.7) in a flight by Air Force pilot Pete Knight on October 3, 1967. The altitude record (354,200 feet) was set by NASA pilot Joseph Walker on August 22, 1963. Vintage glossy 10 x 8 NASA photo, taken on October 5, 1960 and numbered E-5931, of Armstrong and five others posing in front of one of their jets, signed vertically in blue ink by Neil Armstrong, Robert Rushworth, Forest Peterson, Joe Walker, and Robert White, and signed in black ink by John McKay. In very good condition, with noticeable creases, McKay’s signature fairly light but legible, some light silvering to darker areas of image, a couple of tiny edge chips, and light irregular ink adhesion to the signatures.
Operational from 1959 to 1968, the X-15 program was the direct forerunner of orbital spacecraft. As such, the data gathered on these flights were crucial to the development of America’s space program. Numerous records—official and unofficial—were set during the course of the X-15 program, including an altitude record (354,200 feet) achieved by Walker, a NASA pilot, in 1963. Armstrong, of course, would become the best-remembered of the group for his role in history as the first man on the moon. Pre-certified Scott Cornish and RRAuction COA.
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