Questions tagged [x-15]
Use for the North American X-15 rocket-powered airplane (only within the atmosphere).
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Why was the skid landing gear located so far aft on the X-15?
The X-15 famously used a pair of steel skids as the main landing gear rather than conventional wheels, which saved weight, allowed the skids to be mounted externally (where wheels and tires would have ...
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Did every X-15 pilot become weightless when flying into the upper strato- and mesosphere?
The North American X-15 was aimed at breaking airspeed and altitude records. The flights that sought to achieve new airspeed records (Mach 5+) were rather leveled but the flights into the upper ...
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Did the X-15 ever conduct a point-to-point flight?
The North American X-15 rocketplane flew at up to Mach 7 and at very high altitudes, it was also capable of spaceflight but these were quite steep parabolic patterns. At Mach 7 it flew leveled and my ...
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How is altitude reached by aircraft flying above the stratosphere measured?
Aircraft flying above the stratosphere (above 30km) are rare, but there is still the X-15 and the spaceship two. For those aircraft, maximal altitude is measured to within 500 ft.
As described in this ...
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Why Didn't the USSR Build An X-15?
In the history of aerospace engineering in the United States, the X-15 is lauded as a critical and necessary step on the path to manned spaceflight. Throttle-able chemical rocket propulsion systems, ...