Re: October 3, 1967, an X-15A


Message posted by Andreas Parsch on December 16, 2002 at 5:21:42 PST:

"5 years and nothing faster then Mach 6.7.
Seems strange"

The USA has built a rocket-powered manned aerospace craft which reaches Mach 25+ on its powered ascent and unpowered descent. It's called "Space Shuttle" ;-).

And before you say "But this isn't a 'real' aircraft", it's just as "real" as the X-15. Both use an external first stage (X-15: B-52; Shuttle: SRBs), use rocket-propulsion to leave the atmosphere, continue on a ballistic trajectory, and do an unpowered gliding high-speed reentry. And if we believe NASA's official emergency procedures for the Shuttle, the latter is even capable of doing short sub-orbital return-to-base flights ;-)!

Andreas


In Reply to: October 3, 1967, an X-15A posted by darkhorse on December 15, 2002 at 16:15:23 PST:

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