Space Launch Now - North American X-15

North American X-15

In-active Re-Usable

North American Aviation ()

June 8, 1959

Description

The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft.

Specifications

Stages
1
Length
15.47 m
Diameter
6.61 m
Fairing Diameter
―
Launch Mass
15195 T
Thrust
286 kN
Apogee (Sub-Orbital)
108 km

Family

Name
North American X-15
Family
―
Variant
―
Alias
―
Full Name
North American X-15

Payload Capacity

Launch Cost
―
Low Earth Orbit
―
Geostationary Transfer Orbit
―
Direct Geostationary
―
Sun-Synchronous Capacity
―

North American Aviation

None

1928

North American Aviation (NAA) was a major American aerospace manufacturer, responsible for a number of historic aircraft, including the T-6 Texan trainer, the P-51 Mustang fighter, the B-25 Mitchell bomber, the F-86 Sabre jet fighter, the X-15 rocket plane, and the XB-70, as well as Apollo command and service module, the second stage of the Saturn V rocket, the Space Shuttle orbiter and the B-1 Lancer.

Previous Flights

flew on 13 previous launch(es).

X-15 | Flight 197

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Aug. 21, 1968, 5:05 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 197 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1968. Piloted by William H. Dana it reached an altitude of 81.4 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 191

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Nov. 15, 1967, 6:30 p.m.

Status: Launch Failure

Mission:

X-15 Flight 3-65-97, also known as X-15 Flight 191 was a 1967 flight of the North American X-15. After reaching an altitude of 81.0 km, the aircraft entered a spin and broke apart mid air, killing pilot Michael J. Adams.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 190

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Oct. 17, 1967, 5:40 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 190 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1967. Piloted by William J. Knight it reached an altitude of 85.5 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 174

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Nov. 1, 1966, 9:24 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 174 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1966. Piloted by William H. Dana, it reached an altitude of 93.5 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 153

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Oct. 14, 1965, 8:47 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 153 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1965. Piloted by Joe H. Engle it reached an altitude of 81.1 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 150

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Sept. 28, 1965, 6:08 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 150 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1965. Piloted by John B. McKay it reached an altitude of 90.0 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 143

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Aug. 10, 1965, 7:24 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 143 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1965. Piloted by Joe H. Engle it reached an altitude of 82.6 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 138

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
June 29, 1965, 6:21 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 138 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1965. Piloted by Joe H. Engle it reached an altitude of 85.5 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 91

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Aug. 22, 1963, 6:05 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

X-15 Flight 91 was a 1963 American crewed mission, and the second and final flight in the program to achieve sub-orbital spaceflight—a flight over 100 km in altitude. It was the highest flight of the X-15 program.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 90

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
July 19, 1963, 6:20 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 90 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1963. It was the first of two X-15 missions that passed the 100-km high Kármán line.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 87

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
June 27, 1963, 5:56 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 87 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1963. Piloted by Robert A. Rushworth it reached an altitude of 86.7 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 77

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
Jan. 17, 1963, 4:59 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 77 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1963. Piloted by Joseph A. Walker it reached an altitude of 82.7 km.

Suborbital

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X-15 | Flight 62

North American Aviation | USA
Air launch to Suborbital flight
July 17, 1962, 5:30 p.m.

Status: Launch Successful

Mission:

Flight 62 of the North American X-15 was a test flight conducted by NASA and the US Air Force in 1962. Piloted by Robert M. White it reached an altitude of 95.9 km.

Suborbital

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Recent Launches

Falcon 9

Success

19 hours, 44 minutes ago

Galileo L12 (FOC FM25 & FM27)

Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

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Long March 2

Success

3 days, 7 hours ago

Shenzhou 18

Launch Area 4 (SLS-1 / 921) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Seventh crewed flight to the Chinese space station.

Electron

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4 days, 21 hours ago

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Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Onenui Station, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3) is a technology demonstration mission tasked with deploying a composite boom solar sail. NeonSa…

Falcon 9

Success

4 days, 22 hours ago

Starlink Group 6-53

Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral, FL, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.

Long March 2D

Success

1 week ago

Yaogan 42-02

Launch Complex 3 (LC-3/LA-1) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

The Yaogan 42-02 is a Chinese military “remote sensing” satellite of unknown purposes.