Mach Over
Robert M. White, forgotten astronaut, has died at the age of 85. In 1962, White
piloted a rocket-powered X-15 research airplane 60 miles above the earth, making him the first man to earn a winged astronaut rating by piloting an airplane in space. Ironically, that may have been his least treacherous flight, as the decorated veteran flew combat missions in World War II, when he was briefly a POW after getting shot down over Germany, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was the first to top Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6.
piloted a rocket-powered X-15 research airplane 60 miles above the earth, making him the first man to earn a winged astronaut rating by piloting an airplane in space. Ironically, that may have been his least treacherous flight, as the decorated veteran flew combat missions in World War II, when he was briefly a POW after getting shot down over Germany, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and was the first to top Mach 4, Mach 5 and Mach 6.
Labels: astronaut
posted by The Grim Reaper at 10:37 PM
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